Heidi Kugler is a graduate of the College of Wooster with her a BA in Sociology and Minors in Religious Studies and Africana Studies.  She earned her Masters of Divinity with a specialization in Biblical Studies from Boston University School of Theology.  She has completed two units of Clinical Pastoral Education.  Heidi is an Ordained Elder from the Greater NJ Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church and a Certified Correctional Chaplain with the Association of Correctional Chaplains Association.

Currently she serves as the national Chaplaincy Administrator for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Washington, DC.  As the Chief of Chaplains for the agency, she provides executive oversight to chaplaincy departments in all 122 federal prisons nationwide.  Along with her Central Office Chaplaincy team, she seeks to guide religious accommodations across faith lines, policy development, national training, branch hiring, and faith-based reentry for the agency.  Prior to entering the agency, she served as a parish pastor, as well as a chaplain at a county jail and in a state prison in NJ.  Her previous Bureau of Prisons duty stations include FDC Honolulu as the Supervisory Chaplain and FCI Fort Dix as the Staff Chaplain.  

At a young age, Heidi learned the gift of serving others as a means to give back to God for the many blessings she has received.  Over the years, she has served the needs of congregations, at risk youth, poor and homeless persons, incarcerated populations as well as those in the hospital and the elderly.  She has a passion for offering the grace of God to break the chains of person’s hearts and lives.  Heidi is blessed with a loving husband and three amazing children.  She enjoys spending time with family and friends, exercising, reading, watching movies and going to the beach!

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