Mr. Ethan Cole serves as Deputy Regional Director for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Region 7 in Kansas City, Missouri. In this role, he oversees a regional team serving Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. The CISA Region 7 team provides expert advice on physical and cybersecurity risk assessment and mitigation; information sharing and outreach; training and exercises; emergency communications; and infrastructure resilience.
Mr. Cole joined CISA in 2022 and has served in various federal leadership positions during his career. Prior to joining CISA, he worked at the USDA Farm Production and Conservation Business Center. Working in the Financial Management Division (FMD), he implemented FMD’s first three Robotic Process Automation (RPA) bots, coordinated the program delivery for multi-million- and billion-dollar farm programs, and served as the acting Accounting Policy Section Chief.
From 2012 through 2020, Mr. Cole served the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, National Records Center (NRC) in various leadership positions ranging from Administrative Manager, Chief of Staff, Deputy Director, and acting NRC Director. He led over 400 employees and 400 contractors at a level-4 secure facility responsible for the logistics, maintenance, and security of nearly 18 million classified and unclassified immigration records and ensured timely access to immigration records to nearly 300 USCIS offices worldwide while also leading the largest Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) program in the federal government. While at USCIS, Mr. Cole completed the Federal Executive Institute’s Leadership for a Democratic Society leadership program.
Mr. Cole started his federal career in 2002 as a Federal Career Intern Program (FCIP) Intern with the U.S. Treasury, Financial Management Service (FMS), Kansas City Financial Center (KCFC). He spent over 10 years there and held various responsibilities at the KCFC. He started out conducting comprehensive international payments accounts reconciliations, teaching Appropriations Law, and conducting public outreach and education for Treasury programs. Mr. Cole progressed into numerous leadership positions including international payments operations management, domestic payments operations management, and administrative operations management.
Mr. Cole went to college and played baseball at Southwest Baptist University while earning his Bachelor of Science degree in Community Recreation, with a minor in Business Management. Ethan and his spouse, Ashleigh, live with their four boys in Lee’s Summit, Missouri.
