Biography

Popps was born in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

. He is a

Greek American Greek Americans ( el, Ελληνοαμερικανοί ''Ellinoamerikanoí'' ''Ellinoamerikánoi'' ) are Americans of full or partial Greek ancestry. The lowest estimate is that 1.2 million Americans are of Greek descent while the highest e ...

. He was educated at

Marquette University Marquette University () is a private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Martin Henni, the first Bishop of the diocese of M ...

, graduating in 1970 with a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

and Philosophy. While in college, he was a member of the

Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps The Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (AROTC) is the United States Army component of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. It is the largest Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program which is a group of college and university-based offic ...

. As a younger man, he worked for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

, the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

, and the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

criminal court system. From 1975 to 1979, he attended the Potomac School of Law, receiving a J.D. in 1979. In 1980, Popps joined Communications Technology Management, Inc. as Operations Manager. He was later promoted to Senior Account Executive and Director of Program Development before becoming

Chief Operating Officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the " C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if ...

in 1984, holding that position until 1986. In 1984, with

Crow Holdings Crow Holdings is a privately owned real estate investment and development firm based in Dallas, Texas, US, which has been operating since 1948. Originally founded by Trammell Crow, the firm was expanded under the direction of his son, Harlan Cro ...

, Popps also founded Dallas Fort Worth Teleport, a company that manufactured teleports. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Dallas Fort Worth Teleport until 1999, when the company was acquired by a competitor. Popps was one of the original incorporators of C-SPAN and his company provided

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioi ...

services for the network. His company also provided the

satellite link Satellite link is – according to ''article 1.113'' of the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) ITU Radio Regulations (RR)ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems – Article 1.113, definition: ''satellite link'' � ...

between the

American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Cali ...

and the

National Captioning Institute The National Captioning Institute, Inc. (NCI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides real-time and off-line closed captioning, subtitling and translation, described video, web captioning, and Spanish captioning for television and film ...

. After the sale of his company, Popps lived in semi-retirement. In 2001, he became Chief Operations Supervisor during the

Chapter 7 bankruptcy Chapter 7 of Title 11 of the United States Code (Bankruptcy Code) governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States, in contrast to Chapters 11 and 13, which govern the process of ''reorganization'' of a debto ...

of Computer Learning Centers, Inc. In the wake of the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror , image ...

, Popps was recruited by the

Coalition Provisional Authority ) , capital = Baghdad , largest_city = capital , common_languages = ArabicKurdish English (''de facto'') , government_type = Transitional government , legislature = Iraqi Governing Council , title_leader = Administrator , leader1 = Jay ...

to serve as its Director of Industrial Conversion, part of the privatization of the

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

economy, which had previously had a planned economy. In this capacity, he was in charge of restructuring the former regime's state-owned 52 Military Industry Commission companies into the new Iraqi Ministry of Science and Technology. He then served as the CPA Deputy Senior Advisor to that ministry, in which role he assisted in the conversion of the Al Tuwaitha nuclear facility, and helped to find new jobs for scientists previously assigned to design and build

Iraqi weapons of mass destruction Iraq actively researched and later employed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) from 1962 to 1991, when it destroyed its chemical weapons stockpile and halted its biological and nuclear weapon programs as required by the United Nations Security Coun ...

. He served on the CPA's Iraq Transition Planning Team in June 2004, participating in the handover of authority to the

Government of Iraq The federal government of Iraq is defined under the current Constitution, approved in 2005, as an Islamic, democratic, federal parliamentary republic. The federal government is composed of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, as w ...

. In 2004, Popps became Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology. He also served as the Army's Director of Iraq Reconstruction and Program Management, with oversight of the executive agency of the

Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund The Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund (IRRF) was established by the US Congress on November 6, 2003. It allocated $18.4 billion to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure, damaged from years of neglect, sanctions, and war. As of March 29, 2006, approxima ...

. Popps served as Acting

from January 2, 2008 until March 4, 2010. From April to October 2008, he was also a member of the

Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan The Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan was an independent, bipartisan commission of the United States government established in 2008 to study government contracting related to the War in Afghanistan (2001–present), Afghanis ...

. He retired from government service on April 16, 2010.

References

"New Wartime Contracting Commissioners Named, June 20, 2008

Biography of Popps

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Popps, Dean G. United States Army civilians Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Lawyers from Denver American people of Greek descent Marquette University alumni American chief operating officers