Tom Cochran (technologist)

Cochran grew up both in Japan and Thailand due to his father's job as a foreign service officer.{{Cite news|url=https://diplopundit.net/2016/12/08/foreign-service-retirements-and-state-department-farewells-and-departures/|title=Foreign Service Retirements, and State Department Farewells and Departures|date=2016-12-08|work=Diplopundit|access-date=2018-04-30|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|url=https://fcw.com/blogs/fcw-insider/2016/11/cochran-acquia-schneider.aspx|title=Former White House digital director to run Acquia's public-sector business -- FCW|website=FCW|language=en|access-date=2018-04-30}} He attended a British Anglican school in Kobe, and International School Bangkok while living in Thailand. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire in 1996.{{Cite web|url=https://www.exonians.exeter.edu/s/1682/index.aspx?pgid=438&gid=2&cid=1360|title=Phillips Exeter Academy Regional Associations|language=en|access-date=2018-05-03}}{{dead link|date=July 2018|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} Following high school, he went to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, graduating with a degree in economics.{{Cite web|url=http://events.wpgc.cbslocal.com/washington/events/key-fedtalks-true-digital-transformation-21st-ce-/E0-001-103842535-2|title=Check out Key FEDTalks: True Digital Transformation for 21st Century Bureaucracies with Tom Cochran at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Sep 13, 2017|website=Eventful|language=en|access-date=2018-05-01}}

Following university, he moved to the Washington, D.C., area to work as an IT consultant for now-defunct American Management Systems. While there, he worked as the lead developer on a patented content management system and a patent-pending feedback management system.{{Cite web|url=http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220040030697%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20040030697&RS=DN/20040030697|title=United States Patent Application: 0040030697|website=appft.uspto.gov|access-date=2018-04-30}}{{Cite web|url=https://patents.justia.com/inventor/thomas-eric-cochran|title=Thomas Eric Cochran Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications - Justia Patents Search|website=patents.justia.com|language=en|access-date=2018-04-30}}

He was hired by Blue State Digital as their first employee,{{Cite web|url=https://www.bluestatedigital.com/blog/entry/a-blue-state-digital-love-story|title=A Blue State Digital Love Story {{!}} Blue State Digital {{!}} A Full-Service Digital Agency|date=2012-07-19|access-date=2018-04-30|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120719095643/https://www.bluestatedigital.com/blog/entry/a-blue-state-digital-love-story|archive-date=2012-07-19}} shortly after the company was founded, following the end of Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign. There, he was a senior developer, helping design and build the technology to power the Democratic National Committee's digital engagement efforts for the 2006 mid-term elections. This software eventually evolved into the platform behind the 2008 Obama presidential campaign.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bluestatedigital.com/our-work/obama-for-america-2008/|title=Obama 2008 Campaign {{!}} Digital Case Study {{!}} Blue State Digital|work=Blue State Digital|access-date=2018-04-30|language=en-US}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2008-06-23/obamas-secret-digital-weapon|title=Obama's Secret Digital Weapon|date=2008-06-24|work=Bloomberg.com|access-date=2018-04-30|language=en}}

Cochran joined the Obama White House in 2011 as the first director of new media technologies, responsible for the technology behind WhiteHouse.gov. He also led the engineering team charged with designing and building We the People to allow Americans to directly petition the government on any issue.{{Cite news|url=https://www.recode.net/2016/12/1/13765002/president-obama-digital-trump-administration-open-source|title=Farewell to Obama, our first digital president|work=Recode|access-date=2018-04-30}}{{Cite news|url=https://qz.com/896144/donald-trumps-white-house-website-woes-are-not-entirely-his-fault-says-a-former-obama-digital-strategist/|title=Obama's White House webmaster says we should cut Trump's team some slack|work=qz.com|access-date=2018-05-01|publisher=Quartz|language=en-US}}

He left in 2012 to join Atlantic Media as their chief technology officer.{{Cite news|url=https://hbr.org/2013/06/why-i-phished-my-own-company|title=Why I Phished My Own Company|date=2013-06-28|work=Harvard Business Review|access-date=2018-04-30}} As CTO, he performed a study on the company's use of email, calculating that each email actually cost the company the equivalent of 95 cents in lost labor, and added up to over a million dollars.{{Cite news|url=https://hbr.org/2013/04/email-is-not-free|title=Email Is Not Free|date=2013-04-08|work=hbr.org|access-date=2018-05-01|publisher=Harvard Business Review}} The study ended up as part of Cal Newport's book Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World (2016).{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4QTzCAAAQBAJ&q=%22Tom+Cochran%22&pg=PT37|title=Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World|last=Newport|first=Cal|date=2016-01-05|publisher=Grand Central Publishing|isbn=9781455586660|language=en}}

In 2014, he was appointed by President Obama to the State Department, helping "take the lessons of the Obama campaign and apply them for American foreign policy around the globe"{{Cite web|url=https://time.com/43223/the-obama-campaign-goes-global/|title=The Obama Campaign Goes Global|website=Time|date=31 March 2014 |publisher=Time, Inc.|language=en|access-date=2018-04-30}} joining former White House digital colleague, Macon Phillips.{{Cite news|url=http://www.adweek.com/digital/atlantic-media-cto-returns-to-obama-administration/|title=State Department Steals Atlantic Media CTO|work=adweek.com|access-date=2018-04-30|publisher=AdWeek|language=en-US}} While at the department, he was responsible for launching ShareAmerica, a government Upworthy clone{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2014/09/30/meet-share-america-the-u-s-state-departments-upworthy-clone/|title=Meet Share America, the U.S. State Department's Upworthy clone|last=Scola|first=Nancy|date=2014-09-30|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=2018-05-03|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}} that is a "digital-first platform with socially-optimized content that was policy relevant," available in seven languages to cover an audience of 4 billion people.{{Cite news|url=https://digital.gov/2015/07/17/states-shareamerica-takes-a-very-social-approach/|title=State's ShareAmerica Takes a Very Social Approach|date=2015-07-17|work=DigitalGov|access-date=2018-05-03|language=en-US}}

After leaving the Obama administration in 2016, Cochran was tapped to lead the public sector practice as chief digital strategist for Acquia, a Boston-based software-as-a-service company. In October 2018, he was hired to run the digital and integrated marketing practice for Edelman in Washington, DC.{{Cite web|url=https://www.axios.com/edelman-names-former-obama-digital-tom-cochran-as-dc-general-manager-aac2c747-a623-4ceb-ba1b-3749d4cee6c9.html|title=Edelman names former Obama digital guru as D.C. general manager|website=Axios|language=en|access-date=2018-12-23}} In July 2019, he left Edelman to rejoin 720 Strategies as partner and chief growth officer.{{Cite web|url=https://www.720strategies.com/blog/tom-cochran-partner-chief-growth-officer/|title=Tom Cochran Returns as Partner and Chief Growth Officer|date=2019-07-25|website=720 Strategies|language=en-US|access-date=2019-07-26}}

Cochran speaks internationally on his government experience pushing digital and cultural transformation.{{Cite news|url=http://www.adtech-tokyo.com/en/keynote/kspk003.html|title=Tom Cochran {{!}} adtech tokyo official website|work=adtech tokyo official website|access-date=2018-04-30|language=en-US}}{{Cite news|url=https://extra.ie/2018/04/11/tech/dublin-tech-summit-5-speakers|title=Heading to the Tech Summit next week? Here are 5 speakers not to miss?|date=2018-04-11|work=Extra.ie|access-date=2018-04-30|language=en-GB}}{{Cite web|url=https://en.imedia-summit.fr/event/Previous-editions/2017-Focus/plenaries/Keynote-Tom-Cochran|title=Keynote Tom Cochran|website=iMedia Brand Summit|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-04-30}} He emphasizes a change management approach focusing on establishing credibility, embracing risk, and adopting emerging technologies.{{Cite news|url=https://hbr.org/2017/01/how-i-led-change-in-the-u-s-state-department-bureaucracy|title=How I Led Change in the U.S. State Department Bureaucracy|date=2017-01-04|work=Harvard Business Review|access-date=2018-04-30}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.e-marketing.fr/Thematique/social-media-1096/Breves/-avait-Bluetooth-interview-responsable-digital-Maison-Blanche-318218.htm|title='Il n'y avait ni wi-fi ni Bluetooth' : Tom Cochran, ex-digital leader de la Maison-Blanche|website=emarketing.fr|access-date=2018-04-30}} He's also an adjunct professor at American University{{Cite web|url=https://www.american.edu/kogod/faculty/tcochran.cfm|title=Faculty Profile: Thomas Cochran|website=American University|language=en-US|access-date=2018-05-03}} and a writer, having contributed to publications including Harvard Business Review,{{Cite web|url=https://hbr.org/search?N=0+4294967064&Ntt=tom+cochran|title=Tom Cochran author page|website=hbr.org|publisher=Harvard Business Review|access-date=2018-04-30}} Quartz,{{Cite news|url=https://qz.com/1105493/jeff-bezos-and-amazon-could-teach-donald-trump-how-to-run-the-us/|title=The US should treat its citizens like Amazon treats its customers|work=Quartz|access-date=2018-05-01|language=en-US}}{{Cite news|url=https://qz.com/957197/why-government-websites-suck-so-much-according-to-obamas-white-house-webmaster/|title=Why government websites suck so much, according to Obama's White House webmaster|work=Quartz|access-date=2018-05-01|language=en-US}} and Entrepreneur.{{Cite web|url=https://www.entrepreneur.com/author/tom-cochran|title=Tom Cochran author biography|website=entrepreneur.com|publisher=Entrepreneur|language=en|access-date=2018-04-30}}

{{reflist}}

• {{Official website|https://www.thomascochran.com}}
• {{YouTube|mITsaeZ20gM|Tom Cochran & Reed Hastings on how to affect cultural change to embrace new technology}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cochran, Tom}}

Category:1977 births

Category:Obama administration personnel

Category:United States Department of State officials

Category:American University faculty

Category:Vanderbilt University alumni

Category:Living people

Category:Phillips Exeter Academy alumni

Category:People from Washington, D.C.