Steve Cooper serves as chief information officer and acting assistant administrator for information services at the Federal Aviation Administration.
He previously served as information technology director and CIO of the FAA’s air traffic organization, where he guided the planning, risk management, information delivery, solution delivery and operations activities of the IT organization supporting the 50,000 employees and contractors of the ATO and FAA.
In 2003, then-President George W. Bush appointed him as the first CIO of the Department of Homeland Security, where he led the implementation of a secure data network for exchanging classified homeland security information between defense and civilian agencies.
He also worked with the FBI to deploy a homeland security information network for sharing sensitive information with state and local agencies, first responders and private sector organizations owning critical infrastructure.
Cooper developed DHS’ first IT strategic plan, stood up its day one IT operations and testified frequently before Congress on cyber and information security matters and use of IT to achieve homeland security mission objectives.
Earlier, Cooper was appointed special assistant to the president for homeland security and senior director for information integration in the White House’s homeland security office, where he led the integration of terrorist watch list and implemented information sharing within the federal government and with state, local and relevant private sector entities.
In between his service at DHS and the FAA, Cooper served as the senior vice president and CIO of the American Red Cross, where he and his IT teams implemented the introduction of a national call center to provide emergency assistance to 4 million people displaced from their homes during Hurricane Katrina.
His teams also provided the IT systems delivering more than half the nation’s blood supplyand provided IT services supporting more than 100 million Americans receiving Red Cross services across America.
Cooper was named one of the “Top 100 CIOs in America” by CIO Insight in 2007 and was named by the Washington Post as “One of the Five to Watch” while serving in the White House.
He has also been named Government Civilian Executive of the Year by Government Computer News; a “Titan of Technology” by the Northern Virginia Technology Council as a Titan of Technology; and is a recipient of the Fed 100 Award, which recognizes the 100 most influential people in federal government technology.
Prior to his federal government service, the Ohio Wesleyan University alumnus spent more than twenty years in the private sector with Eli Lilly and Corning Inc. and served during the Vietnam conflict as a Naval Air Reserve petty officer.
