Erin Kiernon

Chief Operating Officer

Erin is Chief Operating Officer (COO) at AVAC, where she partners closely with the Executive Director on AVAC’s strategic direction and operational priorities. Erin oversees organizational health and development, leading the HR, Communications, Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL) and Program Coordination teams, as well as AVAC’s fundraising, risk management, and Board operations. Since joining AVAC in 2019, she has overseen the organization’s first strategic planning process and strategic plan implementation, and led the transition from in-person to virtual work environments and AVAC’s operational and programmatic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Previously, Erin held leadership positions the Population Council and Planned Parenthood Federation of America and served as a senior advisor to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB prevention. At the Population Council, Erin served as chief of staff to the president and head of external relations, overseeing branding and communications, policy advocacy and government relations, philanthropy and board relations. In her work with CDC, Erin developed strategies to launch new public health information and guidance, including national data on HIV and other sexually transmitted infections; national HIV and STI awareness campaigns; CDC’s clinical trials of pre-exposure prophylaxis; and the nation’s first public health guidance on PrEP.