Bio for Brenda S. Farrell
Director, DOD Strategic Human Capital Management
U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)
farrellb@gao.gov
In April 2007, Ms. Farrell was appointed to serve as a director in GAO’s Defense Capabilities and
Management Team where she is responsible for oversight of military and DOD civilian
personnel issues, including the personnel security clearance process, medical readiness,
unmanned aerial systems pilot issues, and workforce mix issues. Prior to her appointment with
the Defense Capabilities and Management Team, Ms. Farrell was an Acting Director for GAO’s
Strategic Issues Team where she was responsible for overseeing major bodies of work related
to government-wide strategic human capital management and federal government regulation
issues. Before joining the Strategic Issues Team, Ms. Farrell was an Assistant Director for
Defense Capabilities and Management and led military personnel engagements encompassing
military pay and benefits, Reserve and National Guard mobilization issues, and senior military
officer requirements and career development.
Ms. Farrell began her career at GAO in 1981, and has served in a number of issue areas
associated with national security issues. She received her bachelor’s degree in sociology from
the University of Louisville. In 2000/2001, she attended the National Defense University,
Industrial College of the Armed Forces and earned a master’s degree in national resources
strategy. Ms. Farrell completed the leadership development program at Eckerd College in
2004, and in 2005, she completed the Senior Executive Fellow Program at Harvard University. In
March 2007, she graduated from the CAPSTONE program at the National Defense University for
newly appointed general and flag officers being the first GAO SES to complete this program. Ms.
Farrell was the project director for a seminar on organizational transformation, co-sponsored
by GAO, the World Bank, and the INTOSAI Development Initiative, held in 2007, for the heads of
Supreme Audit Institutions.
Ms. Farrell was the recipient of a distinguished service award, two congressional client service
award, and two meritorious awards for sustained extraordinary performance leading multiple,
highly complex, defense reviews, as well as numerous other awards including several Results
through Teamwork awards, and awards for high quality products.