Skip to main content

James Donnellon

Deputy Assistant Administrator
James Donnellon, CFO/CAO of NESDIS

James Donnellon serves as the Deputy Assistant Administrator NESDIS. In this capacity, he provides guidance and oversight to the NESDIS enterprise on all matters relating to resource management, including financial, human capital, and facilities.

James has been with NESDIS since August 2014 as the Deputy CFO. He has been responsible for supervising, leading, and providing direction on day-to-day operations on all activities relating to fiscal management over four divisions and a front office support staff. This includes financial operations and systems, policy and standards, and the establishment and monitoring of internal management controls related to financial management. He has led strategic discussions to set and execute organizational priorities and works with NESDIS senior leadership to ensure alignment on planning, budget formulation, and execution of NESDIS’s operating budget of approximately $1.5B.

Prior to joining NESDIS, James worked for the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency for eight years, where he was involved with federal budget execution, formulation, and cost management. Before joining CBP in 2006, James spent several years as a consultant to various federal agencies including the Coast Guard, National Institutes of Health, and Federal Bureau of Investigation. The engagements involved a wide range of topics to include process re-engineering, auditing, and accounting and budgeting systems solution development and design.

Donnellon holds a Bachelor of Science in Business (B.S.B). degree in Management from Indiana University–Bloomington.