The Town of Herndon has parted ways with its top executive less than a year into his tenure.
The Herndon Town Council voted in a closed meeting on Tuesday (Sept. 29) to “end the employment of Town Manager Dan Hoffman, effective immediately,” the town announced on its Facebook page yesterday afternoon (Thursday).
No public explanation for the decision was provided beyond that it was “a personnel matter.” The agenda for the closed meeting stated only that the council would be consulting with its legal counsel in connection with the “discussion and consideration of the performance of a specific appointee of the public body.”
“To respect the privacy of everyone involved, the Town will not comment further on the reasons for the Council’s decision,” Herndon Mayor Keven LeBlanc said in a statement shared by the town. “The Council will share information about next steps for the Town Manager position at the appropriate time.”
LeBlanc added that he wished Hoffman “the best in his future endeavors.”
The council’s vote to dismiss Hoffman was unanimous, a source familiar with the situation told FFXnow. The decision came in response to behavior that wasn’t violent or criminal in nature, but still fell short of the professional standards expected of the town manager, the source said.
FFXnow has reached out to Hoffman for comment.
Deputy Town Manager Kirstyn Jovanovich has been tapped as the interim town manager, a position that she previously held for about seven months prior to Hoffman’s assumption of the role on a permanent basis last November.
“I appreciate the trust the Council has placed in me and in our leadership team during this transition,” Jovanovich said in a statement.
Previously a city manager for Winchester, Hoffman was appointed as Herndon’s town manager by the town council on Sept. 23, 2025, just over a year after his predecessor, Bill Ashton, resigned to accept a job in Stafford County.
While searching for Ashton’s permanent replacement, the town had hired former Prince William County executive Christopher Martino to serve as an interim manager, but he left the position on April 30, leaving Jovanovich, then an acting deputy manager, to step in. Jovanovich originally joined the Town of Herndon as its clerk in October 2022, according to her LinkedIn page.
Hoffman’s dismissal comes at a precarious moment for Herndon, which was dealt a blow last week after the Fairfax County Circuit Court allowed Comstock Companies to retain ownership of a central piece of downtown land despite the developer’s withdrawal from its planned project on the site.
The town is also facing an election this November that could potentially result in an entirely new council, though LeBlanc is running unopposed in his bid for a second term as mayor.
In addition, after years of preparing for an influx of residents and development ushered in by the Herndon Metro station’s opening in 2022, the town is in the midst of crafting a new comprehensive plan that will establish a vision for its future through 2050.
Hoffman isn’t the only key town official to be shown the door with little public explanation in recent years. Former police chief Maggie DeBoard was quietly placed on administrative leave in February 2025 before being formally dismissed and replaced a month later by current Police Chief Steven Pihonak.
Under less murky circumstances, the town welcomed Brett Heavner as its chief communications officer in March 2025 following longtime spokesperson Anne Papa’s retirement, and Michael Johnson became the town’s new director of public works in July. Herndon’s previous permanent public works director, Scott Robinson, had retired from the position in 2024 after a five-year tenure.
