Patrick Donahoe was named Deputy Postmaster General and Chief Operating Officer in April 2005. The second-highest ranking postal executive, and the 19th Deputy Postmaster General, Donahoe is a 34-year postal veteran. He reports to the Postmaster General and is a member of the Postal Service Board of Governors.

In addition to his Board duties, Donahoe has responsibility for the day-to-day activities of 665,000 career employees working among 37,000 facilities that are supported by a fleet of approximately 210,000 vehicles. He also is responsible for mail processing, transportation, field operations, engineering, delivery, retail, facilities network operations and the 2009 implementation of the Intelligent Mail program. Reporting to Donahoe are the senior vice president of Operations, the managing director and vice president of Global Business, the senior vice president of Intelligent Mail and Address Quality, and nine area vice presidents.

As Chief Operating Officer, Donahoe has been instrumental in the Postal Service achieving record levels of service and customer satisfaction. Over that same period, the Postal Service experienced significant and sustained workplace improvements and six straight years of productivity gains. The Postal Service has annual revenues of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world's mail.

Donahoe entered the Postal Service as a clerk in Pittsburgh, PA. He has a long and distinguished career in postal operations. His previous officer positions have included chief operating officer and executive vice president, senior vice president of Operations, senior vice president of Human Resources and vice president of Allegheny Area Operations.

Donahoe earned a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master of Science degree as a Sloan Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

A native of Pittsburgh, Donahoe and his wife have two children.

January 2009