Brigham A. McCown
Founder, Chairman, Board of Directors
Brigham McCown has led a career defined through public service, entrepreneurial activities, and tireless devotion to philanthropic activities. His work also includes over three decades of foreign and domestic policy experience.
Brigham served as the United States’ senior energy and dangerous goods transport chief for President George W. Bush at the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) within the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT).
His role included security and safety oversight of over one million daily international and domestic shipments of energy supplies by air, land, and sea, as well as oversight of the national pipeline system. This infrastructure accounted for over two-thirds of all energy commodities consumed in the country each year.
Brigham previously served as the general counsel of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), also at the USDOT, where he served as the country’s top attorney over the trucking, motor coach, and moving company industries. While in this position, he also served as the administration’s lead for implementation of the surface provisions of The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
In addition to his federal civilian service, Brigham also served twenty-nine years of active and reserve service as a commissioned naval officer and naval aviator. His service included participation in numerous conflicts including Desert Storm, Haiti’s Operation Support Democracy. Brigham was also awarded an honorary commission of Rear Admiral (LH) in the United States Maritime Administration for his service and dedication to the national maritime effort.
Brigham grew up in the rural Appalachian area of Southeastern Ohio where he learned the value of hard work as a newspaper boy, deck hand laborer on the Ohio River, and as an unskilled worker in a window factory. He went on to graduate from Miami University, where he earned his undergraduate degree in Diplomacy & Foreign Affairs, focusing on the European Security. He also holds a Juris Doctor from the Salmon P. Chase College of Law and is admitted to multiple federal and state courts. He has twice appeared before the United States Supreme Court. He further holds a graduate certificate in Energy Innovation and Emerging Technologies from Stanford University and Master of Business Administration from William & Mary.
Following retirement from public service, Brigham founded and led several successful companies. Frequently quoted by the international and national media on areas pertaining to national security and infrastructure safety, Brigham continues to dedicate much of his time to Aii, lending his expertise to help improve the safety and security of America’s national infrastructure. He was also an assistant clinical professor in finance and business legal studies at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Most recently, Brigham served as the chief executive of the world’s most iconic energy transportation system, the Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS).
As a founding board member, Brigham’s commitment to engaging new perspectives, bipartisan collaboration, and his deep knowledge of public safety and infrastructure is imprinted on Aii.
Find Brigham McCown on social media. McCown is primarily found through X at @BAMcCown and on other platforms: