faculty

Major General Tony Cucolo
(USA, Retired, USMA 1979)

Expertise

Leadership, leader development, organizational development, strategic and operation analysis, change leadership, risk management

Experience

Tony completed more than 35 years of service in the United States Army. While serving as a General Officer in the last eleven years of his career, his portfolio of experience was remarkably unique. He led Soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq, led operational analysis teams in combat zones and on natural disaster recovery efforts such as Hurricane Katrina, and commanded the largest Army base east of the Mississippi. During this time, he developed a $35B equipment program for the Army, served as the US Army’s Chief of Public Affairs, and was the president of the US Army War College

Commissioned an Infantry officer upon graduation from West Point, Tony served worldwide leading organizations varying in size from 100 personnel to 22,000. Over half of his 35 years in uniform were spent directly leading operations. In Bosnia, he encouraged Muslim, Serb, and Croat leaders to reach agreements on a range of issues, bringing stability to a hotly contested area. In Afghanistan, he led initial tripartite efforts between US, Afghan, and Pakistani military leaders in the areas of border disputes and information sharing. And in Iraq, as commander of U.S. forces running counterinsurgency operations in the seven provinces north of Baghdad, he successfully emplaced a grass-roots effort to build confidence between Iraqi Arabs and Iraqi Kurds along their disputed ethnic fault line crossing that nation from Syria to Iran.

After retiring from the Army, Tony served as a senior executive with the University of Texas System, one of the largest public university systems in the nation, comprising 221,000 students and 110,000 employees. From May 2015 through August 2019 his duties there included strategic planning, leader development of all students, faculty, and executive leadership across fourteen campuses, and coordinating support for veteran students and employees. Tony departed UT System to become the Executive Director of the National Security Innovation Council, a non-profit business, academic, and intergovernmental outreach initiative for the State of Texas enabling accelerated problem-solving support to the national security community. Additionally, he has been retained by the Army as a senior mentor for several senior leadership programs.

Education

MS, Human Resources and Organizational Development, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
BS, Engineering, United States Military Academy, West Point, NY

Organizations

National Security Innovation Council
Texas 2036, Board of Directors
MD Anderson Cancer Center Leadership Institute, Board of Directors