Heather Montalto, NNMC’s Command Ombudsman, contributes a vitally important component to the care and welfare of the command’s Sailors and their families. The Navy Ombudsman Program was created by then-Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. E. R. Zumwalt, Jr., in 1970 to improve communication between commands and the family members of Sailors who served them. The ombudsman is a volunteer, appointed by the commanding officer to serve as an information link between command leadership and Navy families.

Heather Montalto, formerly known as Heather Potter, was born in Philadelphia and raised in Eastampton, N.J., a Philadelphia suburb. She and her younger brother, Michael, spent their summers at the Jersey Shore with their grandparents.

Montalto earned a dual bachelor’s degree in Arts and Science in Interpersonal Communication and Psychology from the University of Delaware. She later began working toward her master’s in Business Administration at Rutgers University. Montalto was a successful business woman in the field of information technology with many Fortune 100 clients including: AT&T, MetLife and Johnson & Johnson. She has worked in New York City, Boston, and Washington, DC. In addition, she was solely responsible for opening and managing a branch office in New Jersey.

Montalto met her future husband, Cmdr. Gregg Montalto, while flying cross-country on business. She later relocated to the D.C. area and married in 2002. She began working part-time for a local non-profit organization so she could spend more time with her stepchildren, Francesca (then 5) and Joseph (then 3). With the birth of their son, Michael-Daniel, in 2003, Montalto left the business world to become a full-time, stay-at-home mom. The Montaltos celebrated the birth of their fourth child, Nico, in 2008.

Montalto’s excellent ability to empathize with and relate to family members of service men and women is in direct relation to her personal experiences as a Navy wife. She is well-versed in the stresses and extra responsibilities that come with having an active duty spouse. She both bought a new home and sold their old home while her husband was serving onboard the USNS Comfort after Hurricane Katrina. While her husband was deployed to Kuwait, they trained separately for, but ran together in, the Army 10-Miler when he returned home. Montalto was four-months pregnant when her husband left for an unaccompanied tour in Okinawa, Japan. She was lucky that he was able to return for the birth of their youngest child, but he left again when the baby was only nine days old.

During her years as a Navy wife and mother, Montalto has been an active member of the community, serving as a PTA officer in her children’s school, volunteering in classrooms, writing the newsletter for the Oakleaf Club, coordinating meals for Fisher House and, of course, by serving as Command Ombudsman of National Naval Medical Center, since February 2009.

Rather than viewing her tenure as Command Ombudsman in terms of a series of accomplishments, Montalto views her role as that of providing steady and consistent support to the Navy family. She trained and became certified as a Command Ombudsman at Fleet and Family Services in Annapolis. She works closely with the family members of current and soon-to-be deployed service members, serving as a liaison between the families and the command. She regularly attends meetings with the Family Readiness Group and Casualty Affairs Family Support. Montalto attends pre-deployment briefs and welcome home celebrations. She is able to provide information and referrals on a variety of issues. She works with Fleet and Family Services, the USO, MWR, the Red Cross, Compass, and the Command to assist family members in a professional and confidential manner. Montalto can be reached at 301-204-9485 or heather.montalto@med.navy.mil.