Executive Vice President, National Health Council
After nearly 30 years of experience working with non-profits across the country, Susan Gaffney joined the National Health Council in March 2020 and is now its Executive Vice President.
Gaffney provides strategic direction for the group’s fundamental work of ensuring that its robust membership is engaged and supported while tackling the critical issues related to chronic health conditions, which are at the core of the NHC’s mission.
Gaffney’s progressive experience in both the health and non-profit sectors allows her to draw on a range of skills and experiences in helping to drive the NHC’s work.
Previously, Gaffney had been the National Director of Membership and Governance at NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, where she focused on nonprofit governance, compliance, strategy, and member support. She has also worked in a variety of roles in the nonprofit education and health sectors in Washington, DC, New York, and San Francisco including the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center.
Growing up in Long Island, New York, Gaffney is especially proud of her background as a first-generation American who maintains dual citizenship with her family’s ancestral home in Ireland.
Gaffney has significant lived experience as both a patient and caregiver. Swift diagnosis of a rare condition while she was pregnant with her first child proved to be lifesaving. Now a mother of three boys, family is near and dear to her heart. Part of the NHC’s work includes advocating on behalf of family caregivers, and Gaffney understands that as she spent over 10 years helping to care for her own parents during their struggles with chronic health issues.
Gaffney earned a master’s in Nonprofit Management and Public Policy from the Milano School of Policy, Management, and Environment at The New School in New York City, and a bachelor’s in history from St. Bonaventure University. She is certified in Group Facilitation by the Institute of Cultural Affairs and as a Change Management Practitioner by Prosci.