Dr. Denise Cooper

Denise Cooper earned her Executive Ed.D. in Higher Education Administration and Leadership from the University of Miami.

A native New Yorker, Cooper spent her summers as a youth in Spring Hope, North Carolina, with her paternal grandparents, cultivating a lasting connection to the state.

Cooper holds a double major in Computer Information Systems and Business Management from Northwood University. She’s a double alumna of the University of Miami, having earned an MBA with a concentration in International Business as well as her doctoral degree. 

Her professional career spans both the public and private sectors. She served with the U.S. Small Business Administration's Charlotte, NC District Office, administering the 8(a) Program, which helps socially and economically disadvantaged business owners build capacity, expand revenue, and access federal contracts. Prior to that role, she served as an SBA Disaster Assistance Loan Officer during the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting small businesses and natural disaster-affected homeowners.

Her earlier corporate career includes positions with Raytheon Technologies-Pratt & Whitney and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, where she worked as a corporate IT and business skills trainer and Senior IT Project Manager. At IBM, she served as a Business-to-Business software account executive, consistently achieving multi-million-dollar sales goals. She also served as a bank examiner with the FDIC during the Great Recession in 2009. Together, these experiences established her as a recognized expert in business infrastructure and a trusted advisor to entrepreneurs and growing businesses.

In academia, Cooper has served as an adjunct IT professor at Morehouse College, Northwood University, and Georgia State University/Chattahoochee Technical College, and as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Miami. Her teaching portfolio spans a broad range of disciplines, including Information Systems, Computer Applications, UNIX, Decision Support Systems (AI), Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Introduction to Business, Business Management, Project Management, Finance, and Strategic Enrollment Management, among others. 

A proud AmeriCorps alumna, she taught financial literacy and wealth-building skills to underrepresented populations in Raleigh. Cooper is the 2023 Advocate of the Year recipient from the Women's Business Center of North Carolina, recognized for her work counseling and training small business owners and women entrepreneurs.

She is the proud mother of two accomplished children John, an entrepreneur and marketing and advertising AI digital analyst; Kristin, a Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine and a Pilates studio owner; and grandmother to Leighla, a 2026 University of South Florida graduate in Biomedical Sciences.

In her spare time, Cooper enjoys reading, interior decorating, cooking, running 5Ks, and spending time with family.