Heike Williams

HEIKE WILLIAMS

Heike was born in northern Germany and raised on the family farm 70 miles south of Hamburg. After earning a college degree in food science, Heike discovered her passion for beekeeping while working in Portland, OR in the mid-1990s. She then returned to Germany in order to participate in a formal beekeeping apprenticeship program from 1996 to 1998, and now holds a Journeyman’s certificate from that program. In 1999, she joined Wild Harvest Honey at Blodgett, Oregon, as a co-owner. Together, she and her husband, Kenny, who had started the business, maintained 600 hives for pollination services and honey production. Heike retired from commercial beekeeping in 2015. Currently, Heike holds a position as a Bio Science Research Technician at OSU’s Research Facility in Madras. Her duties include assisting the Honey Bee Lab in Corvallis in honey bee research in Central Oregon, working in apiculture outreach, and conducting the potato pest-monitoring program in the region. Heike was and still is a member of the steering committee which implemented the Oregon Master Beekeeper Program.