Alexandria has hired Heather McGaffin as director of its Department of Emergency and Customer Communications.
McGaffin, who worked most recently as the director of the District of Columbia’s Office of Unified Communications, will officially succeed the retiring Renee Gordon on Jan. 4, 2027, according to the city.
In her new role, McGaffin will lead the city’s communications center that handles 911, 311, emergency communications and non-emergency communications.
“Heather’s extensive experience across every level of public safety communications, from the dispatch console to the director’s office, makes her an outstanding choice to lead Alexandria’s emergency and customer communications,” said City Manager Jim Parajon. “I look forward to working with her to strengthen our 911 and 311 services and support the professionals who answer the call for our community.”
McGaffin succeeds Renee Gordon, who has served as director of Emergency and Customer Communications for the last 11 years.
“A public safety executive with more than two decades of experience, she began her career as a first responder and emergency dispatcher,” the city said in a release. “She then advanced through supervisory, operational and executive leadership roles, building a deep understanding of both frontline realities and the strategic challenges facing emergency communications centers.”
McGaffin has a bachelor’s degree from Radford University and was director of D.C.’s Office of Unified Communications for three-and-a-half years, before which she was briefly the organization’s acting director, deputy director and chief of special operations.
Both before and during McGaffin’s leadership, the District’s 911 call center faced intense scrutiny for delayed or erroneous responses to emergencies, including flooding in 2023 that killed multiple dogs at a pet care facility and the death of a 5-month-old infant whose family waited 17 minutes for an ambulance.
McGaffin said in 2024 that the agency was making progress on addressing staffing shortages and computer dispatch failures, but the D.C. Council considered a bill earlier this year to overhaul the Office of Unified Communications, stepping up training requirements and mandating a shared medical director with the city’s fire department.
Before joining the D.C. office, McGaffin spent five years as a project manager and communication consultant with Mission Critical Partners in D.C., and more than nine years as a communications officer with Calvert County.
McGaffin chairs the National Capital Region 911 Directors Committee and serves as co-chair of the Next Generation 911 Institute.
