Heather Burnett Gold is Senior Vice President of External Affairs at XO Communications. In this role she oversees all of XO's advocacy with the federal government, including Congress, the FCC, other federal agencies, and the White House, and with state legislative and regulatory entities.

A telecommunications veteran with more than 20 years of experience, Gold joined XO from the KDW Group, where she was a co-founder & principal, providing strategic and financial planning to companies in the telecommunications industry with respect to opportunities created by regulatory change. Prior to The KDW Group, Gold was vice president of industry affairs at Intermedia Communications where she oversaw the company's regulatory, legislative and industry relations at both the state and federal levels. Before Intermedia, Gold served as president of the Association for Local Telecommunications Services (ALTS) from 1993 to 1998. During her tenure at ALTS, Gold was a leading proponent for opening local telecommunications markets to facilities-based competition and a driving force behind the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Before joining ALTS, she served as vice president of member services for the Competitive Telecommunications Association (CompTel).

Gold holds an MBA in marketing and finance from Washington University in St. Louis and Bachelors and Masters degrees in Economics from Tufts University.