Robert McDonald

Robert McDonald has a 30-year distinguished career in Law Enforcement at both the State and Federal level. Early in his career he served in both the State of Connecticut and United States Probation Office. Following his service as a Probations Officer he joined the United States Secret Service where he served over 20 years in several high-level management posts. Throughout his career, he completed assignments at the New Haven USSS Resident Office in Connecticut, as well as on the Presidential, Vice Presidential, and Dignitary Protection Division details in Washington, DC. He coordinated security for numerous foreign and domestic dignitary visits, as well as several National Special Security Events (NSSE’s), including the 2011 APEC Summit in Honolulu, HI and the 2012 G8 Summit at Camp David in Thurmont, MD. Mr. McDonald also spent time in charge of all asset and personnel allocations for the agency in the Office of Protective Operations and was the operations supervisor at the U.S. Secret Service academy located in Beltsville, MD. He is considered an expert in protective, intelligence, and event planning operations, as well as a leading authority of protective travel logistics and training. He retired in September of 2015 as the Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Vice-Presidential Division. In this position, McDonald was responsible for all protective operations and training provided to the 180 special agents assigned to then Vice President Joseph Biden and his family.

Upon retirement from the U.S. Secret Service, Mr. McDonald joined the security department of the National Basketball Association in New York, NY, as Senior Director of Global Events Security. During his five and a half years at the NBA, McDonald coordinated numerous domestic and foreign events such as the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro and several global games in Shanghai, London, Mexico City, and Tokyo. He was the coordinator of the NBA’s security platform at the 2020 NBA All Star Weekend in Chicago, IL and oversaw the security platform for two “bubbles” put on by the NBA for the recent completion of the 2019-2020 and the 2020-2021 basketball seasons.

Since May 2021, McDonald has been a member of the faculty at the University of New Haven, Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the college and mentors students who are seeking a career in the criminal justice field and often represents the university with local media outlets, commenting on current events and topics. Mr. McDonald holds a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in Criminal Justice from the University of New Haven, as well a master's degree in Management from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD.