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Ms. Denise Council-Ross was selected into the Senior Executive Service in August 2022. She assumed the position of Principal Deputy General Counsel for the Army on 1 August 2022. As Principal Deputy General Counsel, Ms. Council-Ross serves as the first assistant to the General Counsel and is the number two attorney in the Department of the Army. Her duties include providing legal and policy advice to the Secretary of the Army, Under Secretary, the five Assistant Secretaries, the Secretariat, and other Senior Army leaders. Prior to her new appointment, Ms. Council-Ross served as Acting General Counsel for the Office of the General Counsel (OGC), Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. There, she facilitated DoDEA's global educational mission by providing high quality and timely legal advice and counsel, effective advocacy, and creative problem-solving. Ms. Council-Ross served over 20 years in the United States Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAGC). At the time of her retirement in 2010, Ms. Council-Ross served as an Assistant to the General Counsel, U.S. Army, where she assisted the Deputy General Counsel (Acquisition) in providing advice and counsel to all Army Secretariat officials to include the Secretary of the Army, the Army Acquisition Executive, the Army Chief Information Officer, and their staffs.

• 2013 – 2022: Acting General Counsel and Principal Deputy General Counsel, DoDEA
• 2010 – 2013: Supervisory Attorney, Procurement, Policy, and Administrative Law, DoDEA
• 2007 – 2010: Assistant General Counsel, Acquisition, US Army OGC
• 2005 – 2007: Deputy General Counsel (Military), Army Contracting Agency
• 2003 – 2005: Staff Judge Advocate, Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico
• 2001 – 2003: Regional Defense Counsel, Region VII, Germany (1st AD, V Corps, 21st TSC)
• 1990 – 2000: Various leadership positions to Army commands including 21st TSC, 5th ID, Special Assistant US Attorney Procurement Fraud Branch, US Attorney’s Office, 5th Signal Command, and DSJA, Fort Belvoir Garrison Command

• LLM, The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, Charlottesville, VA
• JD, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA
• BS, Business Administration, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

• Admitted to Practice:
  • State of Pennsylvania
  • United States Supreme Court
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit