Sheila Anne Elizabeth Heaney, CB, MBE, TD (11 June 1917 – 1 February 1991) was a British Army officer.

As part of her role as director Heaney visited the United States to study the integration of women into their army and recommended that the process proceed in the UK on a more gradual basis.

Heaney then attended the Loughborough College of Technology before finding work at the human resources department of retailer Marks & Spencer.

[3] From January to April 1944 Heaney attended the United States Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

[1][4] On 20 March 1947 she was awarded the Efficiency Medal for long service, at which point she held the rank of temporary senior commander (equivalent to major).

From July 1961 she served at the WRAC School of Instruction and from April 1962 with the organisation's medical unit, followed by a stint in the records office.

[1] Heaney was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel on 24 February 1963 and from October 1965 served as assistant director, WRAC at Northern Command.

She advocated similar change in the United Kingdom but on a more gradual basis; full integration in the British Army was achieved, and the WRAC disbanded, in 1992.

One key change Heaney was able to introduce was the ability of women in the British Army to choose their arm of service or branch.

She served on the military education committee of the Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University Officers' Training Corps and joined the Women's Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS).