Executive Director, Office of Program Accountability and Risk Management
Debra Cox, Executive Director of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Program Accountability and Risk Management (PARM), is a native of West Virginia. Ms. Cox is an engineer and analyst with more than 25 years of acquisition experience. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the West Virginia Institute of Technology and a Master of Science degree in Operations Research from the George Washington University.
Ms. Cox served as the senior technical advisor and coordinating reliability, availability, and maintainability engineer for U.S. Army Engineer School from July, 1984 to September, 1987. Ms. Cox went on to serve in the U.S. Army Operational Test and Evaluation Command for nine years. She then moved to the Coleman Research Corporation, where she supported multiple defense organizations. Ms. Cox returned to the Army Test and Evaluation Command in July, 2002, where she developed Army Test and Evaluation Command policy and advised the Army Test and Evaluation Command Commander and Technical Director. Ms. Cox then helped to stand up the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Test Resource Management Center, which oversees the Department of Defense test ranges.
In 2007, Ms. Cox joined DHS, where she was instrumental in standing up the Department’s Test and Evaluation Office. As the Deputy Director for Test and Evaluation Policy and Processes Management, Ms. Cox was responsible for developing and implementing Department-level test and evaluation policy.
Ms. Cox joined PARM as Deputy Director in December 2013. In May, 2016, Ms. Cox began her current role as Executive Director of PARM. During her time at PARM, Ms. Cox has been instrumental in shaping acquisition policy and oversight across DHS.