-->

Leadership

Leadership

Paul Cooksey is the Deputy Inspector General in the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) and works in SIGIR's principal office in Washington, D.C. He joined SIGIR in November 2007, starting as the Deputy Assistant Inspector General for Congressional Affairs. He transferred to Baghdad, Iraq in March 2009, where he was the Attaché and Chief of Staff-Iraq for three years.

As Attaché, a diplomatic position approved by the Secretary of State and presented by the U.S. Embassy to the Government of Iraq, Mr. Cooksey was the face of SIGIR before the senior Department of State and Department of Defense leadership, the Government of Iraq, and all other Embassies, international organizations, and companies located in Iraq. He traveled throughout Iraq meeting with Provincial Government leaders, local businesses owners and farmers, bankers, and investors.

Before joining SIGIR, Mr. Cooksey was Senior Vice President for Investor Relations and Government Affairs at Anteon International Corporation. He was responsible for managing Anteon's investor relations programs and served as the primary point of contact with investors and key financial analysts and for Anteon's government affairs program.

For eight years, Mr. Cooksey was the Chief Counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business, developing legislative, political and public affairs solutions for issues confronting the business community.

Mr. Cooksey was nominated by President George H.W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the Deputy Administrator of the Small Business Administration, where he was second in command of a federal agency with 110 offices nationwide and 4000 employees.

Prior to joining SBA, Mr. Cooksey served as Vice President and Regional Management Partner at The Oliver Carr Co., and as Vice President and General Manager of Robinson, Lake, Lerer & Montgomery, a strategic communications company, he counseled and assisted clients in establishing integrated public affairs and government relations policies and programs.

Mr. Cooksey served as a Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Treasury Department under Secretary James A. Baker, III and was the Director of Planning, Programs and Research in the Office of Legislative Affairs at NASA.

Mr. Cooksey is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College and received his J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar.

Daniel F. Willkens serves as SIGIR's Assistant Inspector General for Investigations.
Mr. Willkens was appointed as the Assistant Inspector General for Investigations (AIG-I) in April 2012.

He joined SIGIR in August 2007 and has served as Senior Advisor to the Inspector General, and as the Deputy Assistant Inspector General for Investigations. As AIGI he is responsible for the oversight, initiation, conduct, and supervision of all SIGIR investigative activities relating to programs and operations involving to the reconstruction efforts in Iraq.

Before joining SIGIR, Mr. Willkens served as the Acting Director of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the criminal investigative arm of the Department of Defense Inspector General, at the DCIS Headquarters in Arlington, VA, from February 2006 until his retirement in June 2007. Mr. Willkens became a member of the Senior Executive Service in February 2004 upon his appointment as Deputy Director of DCIS, and in March 2008 he received the Secretary of Defense Meritorious Civilian Service Award. Mr Willkens began his federal law enforcement career with the Naval Investigative Service in September 1974 after serving three years in the US Marine Corps as an artillery officer.