Heather Wietfeldt is an Associate with PMA’s New York Team. Heather served in the Army and retired as a sergeant. She joined in 1994, immediately after graduating high school and was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, which was conveniently only two hours away from her home. Toward the end of her military career, she was stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado.
Army Career
Heather joined the military at a time when she was part of the last all-female cycle to come through, as they were beginning the process of integrating basic training for all genders. Heather’s role was as a decontamination mechanic (technically a 63 Juliet) in a battalion supporting chemical equipment; however, she was cross-trained into a light wheel mechanic where she worked on vehicles.
Heather comes from a military family, which gave her motivation to join. Her father was in the Army and her brother served in the Air Force. Her sister had also joined the Army four years previously. Her sister had originally been stationed in Germany, but she eventually she was moved to Fort Hood, Texas in the same company and unit. Heather was pleased to have her sister by her side during her entire military career.
Heather feels that her time in the Army was her first experience with independence and freedom, which kept her grounded and was beneficial for her. Heather looks back at the experience as one that molded and matured her in her early years following high school graduation. She also feels that the friends and connections she made were lifelong and important in her life to this day. Heather served for eight years.
Journey to PMA
When Heather left the army, she enrolled in dental school and graduated, but never pursued the career. She had a part-time job during school, working with a real estate developer, which caused her to fall in love with construction and the process of building. At the time, she was involved in building residential communities in Colorado. When the housing market crashed in 2006, she moved to New Jersey where she got a job with a construction company, causing her to definitively switch to commercial real estate. From there, Heather went on to work for Jacobs Engineering and Parsons Engineering, assigned to work at LaGuardia and Newark Airports.
Heather met Dax Ponce de Leon in Chicago and had worked with him briefly before finding the right opportunity to join the PMA team.
Transferrable Skills & Knowledge
Heather feels that the most important aspect of her time in the Army that she brings into her career at PMA (and life in general) is being a team player. In the Army, the team is essential to accomplishment of goals. Heather feels that this ideology benefits her in her career at PMA.