Stoffer gains deeper understanding of Coshocton through Leadership Coshocton County

Heather Stoffer was born and raised in the South Louisiana city of Lafayette. A 2006 graduate of Ovey-Comeaux High School, she worked full-time in high school to help support the family during her mother’s sickness and to ensure her younger sister was cared for.

Of the experience, Stoffer said, “I had a lot of fun though, with a large group of friends. Our parents knew each other, so my friends’ parents became my parents, and my friends were my family.”

While many of her friends remained in Lafayette to attend the University of Louisiana, Stoffer continued to work, attending one semester at a community college. She said she felt lost and was struggling with what direction she wanted to take. Her then-fiancée called off the marriage a week before her wedding, and she was forced to move back in with her parents.

Feeling as though she was moving backward, watching her friends graduate from college and get married, Stoffer began to consider other options for her future and landed on joining the Air Force.

She took the ASVAB and was given the job of aircraft armament, loading bombs on aircraft. Following boot camp and technical school in Texas, her first duty station was in Shreveport, Louisiana. Little did she know her connection to Coshocton would start in Shreveport.

While in Shreveport, Stoffer was given top-secret clearance to work with nuclear and non-nuclear bombs, and it was there she met her future husband Todd, who was serving as a crew chief. While they were dating, he would bring her home to Coshocton, which she described as weird because she was used to city life.

Her next duty station was in Guam, and a week before deployment, she discovered she was pregnant. Fearful of traveling so far away with no husband or support, she and Todd were married by a justice of the peace, and she shipped out the next day. Their first child (Drayden) was born in Guam, just two weeks after her husband arrived on the island of Guam.

Her next position with the Air Force was in protocol, where she tended to the needs of visiting dignitaries, planning their trips and tours of the base. Their second son (Kenton) was born, and her husband decided he wanted to move back to Ohio to provide support to his younger siblings.

At the end of 2014, she joined the Ohio Air National Guard 179th Airlift Wing in Mansfield and worked for Patrick Clark, Meridios, in Coshocton while serving on the weekends. Her plan was to retire from the military, but when a full-time position as maintenance planner became available, she took the opportunity. However, she quickly learned working four 10’s and a 1 1/2 hour one-way commute was a difficult schedule with young children.

Her first civilian job was as the village administrator for the Village of West Lafayette. Always seeking to be challenged, she then worked for McWane Ductile in the poles division. She was hired to fill in when an employee was off on maternity leave, and during that time, business grew exponentially.

While at McWane she appreciated leadership growth and development was valued and that the company was always looking for process improvement. Eventually, she realized she was seeking more and transitioned to Hummel Group Inc., where she is a business account executive.

Stoffer appreciates the culture of the organization and family environment with Hummel. In her position she handles commercial property and casualty insurance accounts for business, specializing in logging, lumber and wood products manufacturing mainly in the Holmes County area. She has started to branch out into the Coshocton County area writing her own book of business. Hummel has six offices in Ohio and one in Indiana with close to 200 employees. Stoffer works between Berlin and Newark, making Coshocton a central location.

Stoffer is very active in the community, serving on a variety of boards. She is vice president of the Board for Licking County Alcohol Prevention Programs and a member of Young Leaders Licking County and the Downtown Newark Association. She also is involved with Women’s Impact of Stark/Summit Counties. Locally, she is key to the Coshocton Chamber EmpowerHer Committee and recently joined the Area Agency on Aging Region 9's board as the Coshocton and Holmes County representative.

Stoffer had heard of Leadership Coshocton County and had been encouraged by Betsy Gosnell to participate.

Not being from Coshocton, Stoffer said she wanted to learn more about what Coshocton offers and leadership. She saw participation as a good opportunity to learn about the area when the presenters said, “How can you promote the area you live in if you don’t know anything about it?”

Stoffer is enjoying learning the hidden treasures of Coshocton. She learned a lot as village administrator and wants to continue to learn.

As an outsider and one who has worked in other counties, Stoffer has a different perspective on the community. She said, “It’s not all bad. There are many people and organizations that work together to make improvements.”

But Stoffer sees some frustration in jobs — manufacturing, public service, education and churches — being siloed and not working together. She said they should work together more and each organization do what it does best to bring those services together. Stoffer has seen how this type of cooperation has worked in other counties to bring about growth within communities.

When asked what would make the county stronger, in addition to more cooperation among organizations, Stoffer recommends an openness to new ideas and people, encouraging new ways of thinking. She said it’s not always the best to do things the same way for years. She said a process-improvement initiative can be used to benefit the county.

Stoffer would recommend LCC for others because she said you don’t know what you don’t know. "I’ve heard so many people say, ‘I’ve lived here my whole life and didn’t know … ' The intermingling with other businesses, professionals and people is great for connecting people, services and resources,” she said.