Rodger Koopman

Rodger Koopman is the District B City Councilor of Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.
Career
Koopman is an immigrant from The Netherlands. He immigrated to the United States in 1979. In 1983 he enlisted in the Air Force as an E-1 Airman Basic. He graduated from the Basic Military Training School (BMTS) with distinction as an Honor Graduate. He became a US citizen in 1986 and was accepted to the Air Force Officer Training School in 1987. He became a Second Lieutenant in the Fall of 1987. He then went to the Weapons Director training school at Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, Florida. He graduated from the Weapons Director training school with distinction as an Honor Graduate. Koopman flew as an AWACS crew member for three years while assigned to the 965th AWACS Squadron at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He deployed to a multitude of overseas locations and was involved in combat and combat support operations over Panama and Saudi Arabia. In 1988 he was credited with one intercept of a Soviet Bear-H bomber while on an alert mission over Iceland. In 1991 he switched career fields and became a Communications officer. During his first assignment in his new careerfield he was in charge of a shop with eight programmers that worked on AWACS weapons guidance software. In 1992 he was assigned to a NATO position at Geilenkirchen air base in Germany where he was in charge of weapons guidance and data communications software for the NATO AWACS fleet. From there he went to the Squadron Officer School in 1994 and graduated with distinction as a Distinguished Graduate (DG). In 1995 he was assigned to Air Combat Command (ACC) at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, Virginia as a staff officer for the general in charge of ACC Communications and Information Systems (Signal Corps AKA SC). In 1997 he deployed to Saudi Arabia as the Aide de Camp and Executive Officer (XO) for the US general in charge of Central Command's counter-terrorism operations in Southwest Asia, which includes the Horn of Africa. He assisted with briefing US ambassadors on classified terrorist threat information. He also organized the monthly counter-terrorism board attended by all flag officers in CENTCOM's Area of Responsibility (AOR). In 1998 he took the 15 year early retirement option offered at the time by the Air Force.
In 1999 he joined a small software startup company in Alameda, California as employee #38. There he served as Director of Software Development. That company was acquired in 2003 by a large meter manufacturing company and in 2004 he moved with his family to Raleigh, North Carolina. His wife, a veterinarian and Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserves deployed to Kuwait and Iraq in 2003. She was gone almost a year thus delaying their move. Koopman was a Director of Software Product Development. In 2006 he unsuccesfully ran for Wake County Commissioner.
In 2007 Koopman was elected by defeating incumbent councilor Jessie Taliaferro in a hotly contested race. The main issues during that race were the preservation of parks and open spaces, and achieving a better balance between development and neighborhood conversation.
In 2008 Koopman joined another small software startup company while he also serves as a Raleigh city councilor.
Koopman also has eight years experience teaching Computer Science and Management courses as an adjunct faculty professor. Three of those years were with the University of Maryland Overseas Division headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany.
Education
Rodger Koopman received his BS in Industrial Technology with a minor in Computer Science from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Illinois in 1986. He received a Master of Public Administration from the University of Oklahoma in 1990 and an MS in Computer Information Systems from Boston University in 1994. He also has an Associates of Applied Science degree in Survival and Rescue Operations of the Community College of the Air Force.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu