Amaury Cooper is an enterprise risk, security, crisis, resilience, & operations professional with twenty years’ experience in security analysis, planning, and management in the academic, private, as well as the for-profit and nonprofit humanitarian aid & international development sectors. As a subject matter expert on NGO safety, security, and crisis management issues and how geo-political risk affects international humanitarian aid and development assistance organizations implementing programs in underdeveloped and post-conflict, failed states, Amaury is a frequent speaker at conferences, has been interviewed by CNN and other news outlets, and serves on numerous US Government and INGO panels and working groups.
He currently serves as Vice President for Global Safety & Security at HIAS, an international NGO focused on immigration and refugee rights. Prior to joining HIAS, he was Director of Global Security at Global Communities, a global development organization committed to working in partnership with communities worldwide to bring about sustainable, impactful changes that improve the lives and livelihoods of the vulnerable. Before joining Global Communities, Amaury held positions in security management, crisis response, and threat analysis at Education Development Center (EDC) International Relief and Development (IRD), Creative Associates, CHF International (now Global Communities), Control Risks, and the Center for Nonproliferation Studies.
He co-founded and was Secretary of INSSA and remains on the organization’s Board of Directors. Additionally, he was a founding member and Chair of U.S. State Departments Overseas Security Advisory Council's (OSAC) International Development Sector Committee (IDSC) and sits on its Steering Committee and is a member of OSAC’s Middle East/North Africa Regional Council Steering Committee. He also serves on the Board of Advisors of the American Mandarin Society. He previously served on the International Leadership Council of the Monterey Institute.
Amaury earned an MA in International Policy Studies from the Monterey Institute of International Studies focusing on the nexus of terrorism and transnational crime, and its effects on security and development of post-conflict and failed states. He earned a BA in Political Science (International Relations emphasis) with minors in Global Peace & Security and East Asian Languages 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. He speaks fluent French and advanced Mandarin Chinese, with a working knowledge of Spanish and has traveled extensively throughout Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and South America.
