Jim McDonnell

Jim McDonnell recently joined Carbyne as an Advisory Board member after retiring from an almost forty year career in public safety. In 2014, McDonnell was elected as the 32nd Sheriff of Los Angeles County, the largest sheriff's department in the United States, leading over 18,000 employees and managing an annual budget of over $3.3 billion dollars. McDonnell took over an agency that had been seriously impacted by scandal and in a four year term was able to restore public trust, institutionalize systems of accountability and work collaboratively and effectively with federal, state and local partners. McDonnell served for twenty nine years with the Los Angeles Police Department, holding every rank up to First Assistant Chief of Police. He worked a wide variety of assignments in his career, including, homicide, gangs, organized crime, vice, patrol operations and community policing. McDonnell retired from LAPD in 2010 to become the Chief of the Long Beach Police Department, where he served for five years. He is the first person to serve in senior executive leadership positions in the three largest policing agencies in Los Angeles County. McDonnell is a respected voice on local, state, and national criminal justice issues, having served as Vice President of the Major County Sheriffs of America, a member of the Major Cities Chiefs Association and previously as President of the Los Angeles County Police Chiefs’ Association, President of the California Peace Officers’ Association, a member of the California Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards & Training (POST), and a board member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Peace Officers’ Association of Los Angeles County. McDonnell earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of Southern California. He is also a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Executive Institute and has completed executive education programs at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. McDonnell formed McDonnell Strategies Group in early 2019 to advise clients across the nation on a diverse range of public safety issues.