The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has selected Dan Coogan as the new head of its Chesapeake Bay Program Office in Annapolis.

Coogan has two decades of experience with the agency and started serving in this new capacity on October 6, 2025. He previously served as the agency’s deputy assistant administrator for Infrastructure and Extramural Resources, overseeing the Office of Mission Support in Washington, DC, which is responsible for acquisitions, grants, and facility operations.

Coogan has taken over as the state-federal partnership prepares to finalize an updated Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement, which will guide restoration and cleanup activities beyond 2025. He will be the Bay Program’s seventh director, or acting director, in six years.

Much of Coogan’s experience is in programs managing grants and budgets. That would be useful because approximately two-thirds of the Chesapeake Bay Program’s annual budget of around $90 million is allocated to grants for states, local governments, universities, and nonprofits.

In the Office of Mission Support, he oversaw an annual budget of $900 million and 1,400 full-time equivalent employees who provided services and programs to support the rest of the agency.

Click here to learn more about this appointment.