Mr. McDonell was the Executive Secretary of the FATF from 2007 to 2015. Prior to that he worked for the United Nations Office On Drugs and Crime (UNODC), where he was Chief of the UN Global Programme on Money Laundering.

Previously Mr. McDonell established the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering and became its first Executive Secretary. He is a lawyer by training and has had extensive experience as a federal prosecutor and in conducting complex investigations including being in charge of many multidisciplinary investigation Task Forces into organised crime cases both nationally and internationally. He also has had experience in private legal practice and as a university lecturer.