Ross Cooper Professorial Lecturer Department of Management

Degrees: J.D., with High Honors, The George Washington University, 1990

B.S., Civil Engineering, Cornell University, 1987
Bio: On December 31, 2023, Mr. Cooper retired from his position as Special Advisor for Business Strategy at Beacon Roofing Supply, Inc., a Fortune 500 publicly traded roofing and building materials distribution company (NASDAQ: BECN). Beacon has over 550 locations throughout the United States and Canada, over 5000 employees, and annual revenue of approximately $9 billion. From May 2021 until his retirement, Mr. Cooper was responsible for all of Beacon’s mergers and acquisitions activities. From May 2006 until May 2021, Mr. Cooper was Beacon’s Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary, responsible for all of Beacon’s legal affairs including contracts, employee relations, acquisitions, SEC reporting, corporate governance, ES&G, insurance procurement, commercial leasing, and litigation and claims management. Mr. Cooper was one of Beacon’s Named Executive Officers and sat on the company’s Executive Committee. He attended all of Beacon’s Board of Directors meetings and counseled the Board and its Committees on all legal issues confronting public company Boards of Directors. Included among his Board of Directors experience is coordinating the corporate governance efforts of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, advising the Compensation Committee on compensation practices and disclosure issues, and advising the Audit Committee on SEC compliance and other regulatory matters. He created and taught seminars on legal issues affecting Beacon’s business including labor relations, contract management and basic business law principles.

Prior to joining Beacon, Mr. Cooper was the Chair of the Business Litigation Practice Group of Shulman, Rogers, Gandal, Pordy & Ecker, the largest suburban Washington, D.C.-area law firm. His practice consisted of general business, contract and construction litigation; securities; antitrust; employment discrimination; intellectual property; and government contracts. He had extensive experience before federal and state trial and appellate courts throughout the United States. Prior to joining Shulman Rogers in 1999, Mr. Cooper served in both the public and private sectors, with the U.S. Department of Justice, where he received the Attorney General’s Outstanding Achievement Award in 1993-95, and thereafter with the Washington, D.C. office of Kaye, Scholer, LLP. Mr. Cooper began his legal career in 1990 with the Washington, D.C. office of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson. In 2017, Mr. Cooper was an adjunct professor of Business Law at St. Mary's College of Maryland and in 2023 also taught Business Law at the Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.

Mr. Cooper is the Program Chair for Kogod's Adjunct Faculty Mentor Program.

Mr. Cooper graduated from Cornell University in 1987 with a BS in Civil Engineering and received his JD, with High Honors, from The George Washington University in 1990. He is a member of the bar in the District of Columbia, Maryland, New York and Pennsylvania.

Mr. Cooper has been married to his wife Beth, a Kogod grad, for 32 years. They have two sons Jordan (28) and Zachary (25). Mr. and Mrs. Cooper have a home in Georgetown, Washington, DC but also enjoy spending time at their home on the Chesapeake Bay in Shady Side, Maryland.

For the Media: To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.; AU Experts

Profile Ross Cooper

You are here: American University Kogod School of Business Faculty Profile Page

Ross Cooper Professorial Lecturer Department of Management

Teaching

Spring 2024

Fall 2024