Odessa Crocker is a senior federal executive with more than two decades of leadership experience advancing financial integrity, operational excellence, and strategic stewardship of public resources across the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. She currently serves as the Acting Director of the Office of Financial Resources (OFR) at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), functioning as the Agency’s Chief Financial Officer. In this role, she provides executive oversight of SAMHSA’s full financial enterprise, including budget formulation and execution, grants administration, financial policy, acquisition planning, audit readiness, and long-range resource strategy. As the principal financial advisor to the Assistant Secretary, she develops and guides the Agency’s fiscal direction, ensuring accountability and alignment with Federal law, OMB directives, and national behavioral health priorities.
Prior to assuming the Acting Directorship, she served as Acting Deputy Director of OFR, leading four major divisions and three offices responsible for budget, grants, contracts, financial advisory services, internal controls, and organizational performance. Her leadership has strengthened SAMHSA’s financial governance, improved enterprise risk management, and modernized the financial infrastructure supporting an $8 billion national portfolio.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Crocker spent nearly a decade as a Branch Chief and Grants Management Officer, directing some of SAMHSA’s most consequential programs, including the Substance Use and Mental Health Block Grants, State Opioid Response, Tribal Opioid Response, and 988 initiatives. She led the development of the Agency’s first discretionary financial risk management framework, significantly enhancing national oversight of billions in federal funds and advancing data-driven, performance-based financial operations.
Her foundational federal experience at SAMHSA and the Administration for Children & Families (ACF) established comprehensive expertise across the full range of federal financial management and CFO Act functions. Her portfolio spans acquisition management, budget formulation and execution, financial policy development, internal controls, audit resolution, grants oversight, and enterprise-wide coordination, strengthening the integration of financial, contractual, and programmatic activities across SAMHSA.
Ms. Crocker’s work continues to shape SAMHSA’s financial strategy, internal controls environment, and enterprise operations. She is widely recognized for her strategic insight, collaborative leadership, and ability to translate complex financial, policy, and regulatory requirements into actionable guidance for senior executives and federal partners. Her commitment to integrity, modernization, and responsible stewardship ensures that federal resources are used effectively to advance behavioral health outcomes nationwide.