Heather Ehle
Founder & CEO
Heather Ehle, founder and executive director of Project Sanctuary, is a Registered Nurse (RN) with more than 20 years of experience in the health care industry as a nurse, manager, volunteer and entrepreneur. She has extensive experience in the nonprofit health care system. A proud single mother of three, Heather adopted a sibling pair, including a boy who had been significantly abused and neglected. She is driven by a strong desire to give back and do more.After reading that the rates of child abuse and neglect triple when a parent is deployed, Heather was moved to do something and founded Project Sanctuary in 2007. Being a civilian without direct ties to military families, she reached out to the community for support and education. Led by veterans and her board, she carefully listened to what the military families needed and then structured Project Sanctuary’s programs to meet those needs, pulling from her background as an RN to establish an evidence-based program that encompasses spiritual, physical and emotional healing.
In 2010, Heather was a finalist for People Magazine’s All Stars Among Us, and won the 2011 Aurora Chamber of Commerce award for “Women Making a Difference.” In 2012, Project Sanctuary was honored at the White House as one of only five 2012 “Joining Forces Community Challenge Winners,” chosen out of over 300 nominees in recognition of its work with military families.
For Heather, there is no other more deserving group of people to whom she may devote her time, energy, and love than the brave families of our nation’s heroes.