Center for the Management of Information Technology Activities

Steven I. Cooper

Mr. Cooper was appointed by President Bush to be the first CIO of the Department of Homeland Security in February, 2003. He and his team have responsibility for the information technology assets supporting 190,000 federal employees of the 22 agencies now comprising the new department. They will also continue efforts focused on integrating new and existing sources of essential homeland security information via proven and emerging technologies and in full compliance with our broader values of privacy, civil liberties, and openness.

Mr. Cooper was appointed in March 2002 as a Special Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and served as Senior Director for Information Integration in the White House Office of Homeland Security. In this role, Mr. Cooper launched the development of the National Enterprise Architecture for Homeland Security to address information integration within the federal government and the sharing of homeland security information with state, local, and relevant private sector entities. He fostered partnerships with state and local government and the private sector to assist federal, state, and local initiatives focused on the sharing of law enforcement, public health, and emergency services information. With James Flyzik, Senior Advisor to the Homeland Security Director and former CIO of the Treasury Department, he provided the input for Information Sharing and Systems to the National Strategy for Homeland Security.

Prior to federal government service, Mr. Cooper spent more than twenty years in the private sector as an Information Technology professional, most recently as CIO, Corporate Staffs, and Executive Director, Strategic Information Delivery, for Corning, Inc. in Corning, NY. Previously, he served as Director, Information Technology for Eli Lilly & Company in Indianapolis, IN. Mr. Cooper held several senior level technical and management positions with CSC, MAXIMA, and CACI prior to forming his own consulting organization, Strategic Information Concepts.

His primary areas of expertise lie in Information Integration, Strategic Information Delivery, Information Technology Architecture, Enterprise Application Integration, Application Development, Information Technology Metrics and Value Assessment, and Process Architecture and Reengineering.

Mr. Cooper holds a BA degree from Ohio Wesleyan University, and has held professional certification as a Certified Computer Professional (CCP) from the Institute for the Certification of Computer Professionals (ICCP). He also served in the Naval Air Reserve during the Vietnam conflict. He has been married for thirty years, and his wife, Suzanne, and he have four daughters.