McDonough is a magna cum laude Boston College graduate. He then attended the University of Massachusetts and graduated summa cum laude from Suffolk University Law School. At Suffolk he was Editor-in-Chief of the Suffolk University Law Review.
Prior to being General Counsel, McDonough worked as a partner at Holtz & Reed, LLP out of Boston. There, McDonough focused on employment and administrative law. McDonough was also General Counsel and Deputy Treasurer to State Treasurer Shannon P. O'Brien. He has admittance to practice in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
Now, as General Counsel for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, McDonough works to assist the unemployed residents of Massachusetts. His division pays unemployment benefits and assists people in finding jobs. He has recently worked toward raising awareness of the federal COBRA benefit and Massachusetts's Medical Security Plan, a health insurance program for the unemployed.
In naming McDonough to deputy auditor for policy and legal issues along with Commissioner of the Division of Occupational Safety Laura Marlin as her first deputy auditor, Bump says, ''Both Laura Marlin and Gerald McDonough are accomplished professionals with a passion for public service that matches my own. They will be enormously helpful to me as I pursue my mission of making government work better.''