Denise O'Donnell was sworn in as the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance on June 6, 2011, after being nominated for the post by President Obama and confirmed by the United States Senate.

In 1985, O'Donnell joined the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Western District of New York as a criminal prosecutor. She was appointed U.S. Attorney by President Clinton in 1997 and became the first woman ever to hold the position of top federal prosecutor in upstate New York. Director O'Donnell served as Vice Chair of the U.S. Attorney General's Advisory Committee in Washington, D.C., where she was a member of the Investigations & Intelligence, Northern Border, and Civil Rights subcommittees. O'Donnell entered private practice in 2001, becoming a litigation partner at Hodgson Russ LLP.

In recent years, O'Donnell has served as the New York State Deputy Secretary for Public Safety, overseeing 11 homeland security and criminal justice agencies, and as Commissioner of the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, the state administrative agency for BJA funds.

A native of Buffalo, NY, O'Donnell was the first person in her family to graduate from college. She obtained a master's degree in social work from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and she graduated summa cum laude from the University at Buffalo Law School.