Heather Cartwright begins her first season as the head coach of Radcliffe lightweight crew this in 2008-09.  Cartwright, who will guide the Radcliffe varisty, brings 15 years of coaching experience to the position, on the high-school, club, collegiate, provincial and national-team levels.

Most recently, Cartwright served four years as the varsity assistant coach at Boston University. She was primarily responsible for coaching the second varsity eight and varsity fours, along with coordinating recruiting efforts.  In 2006, her varsity A four finished the season with a silver-medal finish at Eastern Sprints, BU's first Sprints medal in 13 years.  The Terriers earned an invitation to compete at the NCAA Championships that season.

Previously, Cartwright spent the 2003-2004 season as an assistant coach at Princeton University, guiding the second varsity eight to a bronze medal at the Eastern Sprints and the third varsity four to an 11th-place finish at the NCAA Championships.

Cartwright, a Canadian, is a NCCP Certified Level 4 coach.  She graduated from the National Coaching Institute, Ontario in 2004 with a diploma in high-performance coaching. She is a past chair of the Women in Rowing Committee for Rowing Canada. In summer 2006, she was part of the coaching team for the USRowing U-23 Boston Development Camp. She was the assistant coach for the U23 Canadian Women's National Rowing Team the following summer.

Cartwright began rowing at Branksome Hall, Toronto, in 1985. She continued at the University of Western Ontario under coach Al Morrow, the women's coach of the Canadian National Rowing Team. As a rower, she won gold medals at the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta, the Canadian National Championships, the Ontario University Championships and the Dad Vail Regatta.

An aspiring elite athlete, her rowing career was ended abruptly in her junior year due to a rare genetic heart condition. At the encouragement of her coach, Cartwright became coach of the varsity lightweight women's program while still at university. She led the team in her senior year to gold medals at the Ontario University Championships and the Dad Vail Regatta.

Upon graduation from Western in 1993 with a degree in English literature, she attended film school and began a 10-year career in the internet and communications industries, co-owning a company prior to its sale in 2002. In addition to college and national-team-level coaching, Cartwright has volunteer-coached at the high school, club and provincial levels since 1991. She coached women's crews to gold-medal finishes at the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta,  U.S. Nationals, Ontario Championships, Head of the Charles Regatta and Canada Cup. In 1992 she was the manager for the Canadian National Team at the World Rowing Championships, and in 1998 she served as an apprentice coach to the Canadian National Team.