The CDC Leaders

“How we communicate as an organization should actively be informed by how we are being perceived.”

—Donna Garland

Donna Garland

Director, Office of Enterprise Communication

Donna Garland serves as the first director of the Office of Enterprise Communication. The office reports to the CDC Director and is responsible for coordinating the agency′s response to urgent issues and ensuring consistent communication of key CDC issues, both internally and externally. Prior to this, she was coordinator of the CDC Emergency Communication System, Office of Communications.

Ms. Garland joined the federal government in 1993 as an expert consultant in the National Vaccine Program Office, Department of Health and Human Services, to work on a presidential initiative—the National Childhood Immunization Outreach Campaign.

In 1995, she joined the CDC's Atlanta-based staff in the National Immunization Program to transition the campaign into a permanent program initiative. Ms. Garland then joined CDC's sister agency, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in 1997, first as the public affairs director, and then as deputy director of the Office for Policy and External Affairs.

In November 2001, she worked with the CDC Office of Communications to respond to media and public inquiries related to two domestic terrorism events: collapse of the World Trade Center towers and delivery of anthrax through the mail. In August 2002, she was asked to lead one of the 10 core teams at the inauguration of the Emergency Communications System (ECS), and, in July 2003, became the ECS coordinator. She assumed responsibility for developing the Office of Enterprise Communication in January 2005. The office became an officially recognized function in September 2005.

Before joining the federal government, Ms. Garland was media coordinator at the Children′s Defense Fund; marketing media representative and marketing publications editor at Hallmark Cards, Inc.; and public affairs director at the Atlanta Urban League. She has volunteered her public relations expertise to such organizations as UNICEF, the United Negro College Fund, Habitat for Humanity, and the Girl Scouts of America. Ms. Garland has a degree in business and organizational communications from the University of Akron (Ohio).