Communications Department

Dionna Smith Dionna Smith serves as Chief Communications Officer for DeKalb County Government, where she leads the county’s communications strategy and works to ensure residents receive accurate, timely and accessible information. She serves as the county spokesperson and public information officer, providing information to the media and the public on county initiatives, services and emergency situations.

As a senior strategic advisor to the Chief Executive Officer and executive leadership team, Smith helps shape communications strategies that support the administration’s priorities and address complex public issues. Appointed to the CEO’s Cabinet, she advises leadership on public affairs, media relations, crisis response, community engagement and the potential communications implications of major decisions.

Smith leads a centralized team of more than 25 communications professionals, including departmental public information officers. She works across county departments to align messaging, establish communications priorities and coordinate how information is shared with residents, employees, the media and community partners. Her responsibilities include executive communications, media relations, crisis communications, digital and social media, community engagement, branding and public information.

A crisis communications leader, Smith works closely with the director and deputy director of the DeKalb Emergency Management Agency (DEMA), Director of Public safety, Chief of police, fire rescue Chief and other public-safety officials to prepare for and communicate during emergencies. Her experience includes coordinating public information during severe weather, water outages, public-safety incidents and other high-visibility events. She also works with emergency management, law enforcement and local-government partners across metro Atlanta on regional emergency preparedness and crisis communications.

Smith has developed and delivered crisis communications training for public-safety personnel, county executives, department directors and public information officers. She is the author of On the Record: A Practical Guide to Crisis Communication for Executives and Public Leaders.

Before joining DeKalb County, Smith served as Chief Diversity and Public Affairs Officer for GoGuardian, an education technology company serving more than 22 million K–12 students nationwide. There, she oversaw internal and external communications, federal and state policy advisement, and media strategies. Her work earned her the 2023 Leader of the Year award from the American Consortium for Equity in Education.

Her executive experience also includes serving as Global Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Thumbtack and Global Head of Learning and Development and Communications at PowerToFly. Throughout her career, she has worked with organizations including Cisco, Fiserv, LexisNexis and Delta Air Lines.

A speaker, facilitator and media contributor, Smith has presented at SXSW, SHRM and the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women Conference, among other events. Her work and expertise have been featured by C-SPAN, NPR, Fast Company, CNN Money, Forbes and EdTech Magazine.

Her honors include the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s 40 Under 40 Award, the National Diversity Council’s Diversity Champion Award and recognition among the Top 100 Chief Diversity Officers in Tech.

Smith studied legal communications at Howard University and earned a degree in media arts from Tulane University. She serves on the PowerToFly advisory board and the board of directors of Habitat for Humanity DeKalb.

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