About Me

Amaury Cooper is Deputy Director for Risk Management and Global Security at International Relief & Development (IRD).  He is responsible for the development and implementation of global security strategies and programs to mitigate risk; safeguard employees, assets, intellectual property, and corporate integrity; in addition to ensuring continuity of operations for the organization around the world.  He is charged with formulating company-wide policies, protocols, and procedures to advance the alignment of corporate security objectives with international project implementation, addressing all aspects of security for the organization’s global business, including: administrative, personnel, and physical security; contingency planning, crisis management and emergency preparedness & response; corporate investigations; and, security education and training.

Before joining IRD, Amaury was Technical Manager, Security & Field Operations at Creative Associates International.  In this role he designed and implemented Creative’s security, crisis, and project continuity management policies, protocols and procedures; conducted security assessments and staff training; and, provided analysis of global events and their implications on the company’s projects located around the world to help company and field office management on risk mitigation strategies.  As part of the Field Operations team, he deployed with program staff to oversee and coordinate the initiation and implementation of operations for new Creative projects including security, HR, IT, logistics, procurement, and communications.

Prior to Creative Associates, Amaury was a global security consultant and later Security Program officer for CHF International, an international humanitarian aid and development organization with projects in over 26 countries. He was responsible for project security, crisis management, evacuation, and continuity of operations planning; monitoring and analyzing international security threats; and led the implementation of a global tracking system which allowed CHF to locate and communicate with staff operating around the world. 

He is Secretary and a founding member of the Board of Directors of the International NGO Safety & Security Association (INSSA) and chairs its Strategic Planning and Outreach Committees.  He sits on the International Leadership Council of the Monterey Institute of International Studies and an active member of the Institute’s Washington, DC Alumni Association.  He is also a member of the Society for International Development, the Asia Society, and the World Affairs Council of Washington, DC.  

Amaury is Chief Merrymaking Officer of Meet, Drink & Be Merry, an informal, in person, social network he founded in 2005 that aims to build connections among young professionals while raising money and awareness for local, national and international NGOs and charities. To date the group has raised over $3,000 dollars for some 15 organizations including Bread for the City, Washington, DC, the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, and a shelter for abused women in Kenya.  He is a PADI certified Dive Master and Rescue Diver.  His hobbies include collecting Buddhist art and rugs; reading history and current events; Scuba diving; and social entrepreneurship.  Amaury is fluent in French and Mandarin Chinese, has a working knowledge of Spanish.

From 2004-2008 he was Operations Coordinator for Crisis and Security Consulting at Control Risks.  His responsibilities included project management, coordination, and critical analysis of client security needs, as well as the development of crisis and security management plans and training. Before joining Control Risks, Amaury was a Research Analyst for the Terrorism Research Program at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, CA. He was responsible for gathering and analyzing open source information on the use of weapons of mass destruction by terrorist groups and organized a major international conference on emerging terrorist threats for the Department of Homeland Security and the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Earlier in his career, Amaury studied and worked in China for six years, where he ran marketing operations and business development for a Singapore-based IT/Telecom consulting company. He was a consultant at several business intelligence and retail companies, traveling extensively throughout East and Southeast Asia. Prior to living in Asia, Amaury held Research Associate positions at several non-profit think tanks and helped research and edit portions of the book Terror in the Mind of God, by Mark Juergensmeyer.

Amaury holds an MA in International Policy Studies from the Monterey Institute of International Studies with an emphasis on the nexus of terrorism and transnational crime, and their effects on security and development of post-conflict/failed states. He earned a BA in International Relations with minors in Global Peace & Security and East Asian Language and Cultural Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara.  He has certificates in Project Management from Georgetown University as well as Advanced Mandarin Chinese from Tsinghua University and Beijing Normal University, in Beijing, China.