faculty

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

Expertise

Leadership, strategy development, problem identification and solution, facilitator, keynote speaker, leadership coaching

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. Other duties as a General Officer included development of a $35B equipment program for the Army, service as the US Army’s Chief of Public Affairs, and 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 transition from the Army in 2014, Tony served as a senior executive with the University of Texas System, one of the largest public university systems in the nation. His duties there included strategy development, creating and delivering leadership education and training to students and faculty across the System’s fourteen campuses, and serving as the System’s senior veterans’ advocate. Tony departed UT System and established the National Security Innovation Council, a non-profit academic, business, and intergovernmental outreach initiative for national security problem-solving. In April of 2021, Tony was selected to be President and CEO of Professional Contract Services, Incorporated, an Austin-based nationwide non-profit employing people with disabilities. He continues to support 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 Collaboration Center, Board of Directors

Texas 2036, Board of Directors

Vice Chairman, National Security Innovation Council of Texas