Organizational Changes in the USCG Auxiliary’s International Affairs Directorate

John Cooper has been appointed as the new Director of the International Affairs Directorate of the USCG Auxiliary. Mr. Cooper will report to Commodore Ev Tucker, ANACO of International Affairs and succeeds John VanOsdol who has retired after five years as Director.

Follow up:

John has a long history of involvement in International Affairs. Prior to retirement, he was an International Banker with twenty years of living and working overseas. He has been involved in the Auxiliary’s Interpreter Corps as a Spanish interpreter and a Language Qualification Examiner for almost ten years. For the past five years he has been the Division Chief-Caribbean as well as serving as the Deputy Director of International Affairs under VanOsdol. Cooper resides in Islamorada, in the Florida Keys.

With the expanding direction from the USCG to assist in the establishment of volunteer organizations in other nations as ‘force multipliers,’ the Auxiliary is well-positioned in both the Caribbean Basin and the Asia/Pacific Theater to assist the USCG in this mission.

Simultaneously, the following appointments have been confirmed, which modify previously-held positions in order to align them with the structure and priorities of the USCG:

Chris Jasparro, DIR-IAd – Deputy Director and a professor at the US Naval War
College, residing in Bristol, RI;
Félix López, DVC-IA-SEA – Division Chief for South East Asia, residing in Cerritos, CA;
J. Brian McArdle, DVC-IA-C – Division Chief for the Caribbean Basin and Rim, residing
in Kilmarnock, VA;
Matt Smith, DVC-IA-NEA – Division Chief for North East Asia, residing in Seoul, Korea;
Al Verdi, DVC-IA-O – Division Chief for Oceania and Principal Point of Contact for
PACAREA, PACOM and D11, residing in Los Angeles, CA.

The following Branch Chiefs for the Caribbean Division have recently joined the Directorate, as well:

Arthur Von Pieschel, BC-IA-CR – Branch Chief for Caribbean Rim Nations, residing in
Montgomery Village, MD.
Wagner Nolasco, BC-IA-CI – Branch Chief for Caribbean Island Nations, residing in
Orlando, FL;

Our International Affairs team is ready to assist in all USCG Auxiliary activities in the international arena, and is the only Auxiliary organization authorized to work with countries outside the US and their official and volunteer SAR organizations.