Biography
Representative Michael O’Donnell, a Republican, represents the southern-most part of St. Louis County (District 95) in the Missouri House of Representatives. He was elected to his first two-year term in November 2018.
O’Donnell spent more than 33 years in the financial services industry as a fixed-income securities trader for an investment firm headquartered in St. Louis. While he traded a wide variety of securities, the bulk of his more than three decades of experience was in the area of municipal securities.
On September 11, 2001, O’Donnell’s career as a bond trader put him in New York with plans to be on the 104th floor of Tower 1 of the World Trade Center to meet a friend and colleague he had traded with for years. The attack would unfold before O’Donnell could get there and his friend, sadly, would perish that day. Motivated by this tragic experience, O'Donnell enlisted in the U.S. Navy at the age of 36. He served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, achieving the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Navy Reserve, where he continues to serve.
An Eagle Scout, Michael has served as a volunteer with the Boy Scouts of America at the unit, district, council, area, and regional levels since 1989. He has sponsored Missouri Eagle Scout Day at the Capitol since his second term in office.
O’Donnell is a 1986 graduate of Lindbergh High School in St. Louis. He earned his B.S. in Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance from the University of Missouri–St. Louis and a master’s degree in Strategic Intelligence from American Military University.
Born in St. Louis, O’Donnell currently resides in Oakville with his wife, Lisa. They have two children: Emma, currently a PhD candidate at St. Louis University, and David, an engineer in central Florida.