Kenneth McDonnell joined the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) as a Financial Education Program Analyst in the Office of Financial Education in August 2013.  The Office of Financial Education is responsible for developing and implementing initiatives intended to educate and empower consumers to make informed financial decisions.  Mr. McDonnell is responsible for forming relationships and strategic partnerships with financial education non-profits, libraries, service providers to employers, and organizations within the financial services industry.  
 
Prior to joining the CFPB, Mr. McDonnell served as the Director of Research and Outreach at the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI). In this capacity, Mr. McDonnell oversaw and directed the IRI’s research producing one original research report per month and the IRI’s consumer outreach efforts through the National Retirement Planning Coalition, a group of prominent education, consumer advocacy and financial services organizations to raise public awareness of the need for comprehensive retirement planning. Prior to that Mr. McDonnell was with the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) where he lead and oversaw EBRI’s two financial capability programs, the American Savings Education Council (ASEC) and Choose to Save.
 
Mr. McDonnell has held leadership positions in the Alliance for Investor Education as Secretary and Treasurer of the Board and in the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy most recently as Vice Chairman of the national board.
 
Mr. McDonnell is a native of Chicago, IL, earned his Master of Arts and his Bachelor of Arts from Northern Illinois University.