Meet the New McDonough Faculty: Ross D. Cooper

We are pleased to welcome new faculty members to the Georgetown McDonough community this fall. 

In our Meet the New McDonough Faculty Series, learn more about the interests, specialties, experiences, and personalities behind the talented academics inside the Rafik B. Hariri Building on Georgetown’s campus. 

We spoke with Ross D. Cooper, professor of the practice of accounting and business law, about what he hopes to accomplish at Georgetown through his engagement with students, classroom teachings, and beyond.

What institution or previous line of work are you coming from?

On January 1, 2024, I retired as the special advisor for business strategy for Beacon Building Products, a Fortune 500 publicly traded building materials supplier. In my prior role as the executive vice president, general counsel and secretary for 15 years, I was responsible for all of Beacon’s legal affairs, including mergers and acquisitions. I led the company through more than 50 transactions with approximately $5 billion in enterprise value, including two multi-billion dollar acquisitions of Beacon’s competitors. I always had an interest in teaching and began my higher education career as an adjunct professor of business law at St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 2017. From 2018 to 2024, I was on the faculty at the Kogod School of Business at American University and also taught at the Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland College Park from 2022 to 2023.

What are you most looking forward to about teaching at Georgetown McDonough?

Looking back, my favorite semesters were those in which I had the most student engagement. A high level of student engagement adds tremendously to the classroom experience and my classes are very interactive and discussion-based. Given the high caliber of students at the McDonough School of Business, I look forward to a high level of student interest, engagement, and interaction, which should make our business law classes fun and rewarding for students.   

What is your area(s) of expertise and which subject(s) are you most passionate about?

The interaction between business and law has always been my passion, from my days as a trial lawyer representing a full range of businesses from small real estate developers to Fortune 500 corporations to my time at Beacon. I love putting the business law concepts students read about in our text into the context of real-world applications that I have handled (and am still handling) in my career. I am a trial lawyer at heart, having tried cases and argued appeals all across the United States. Trial lawyers are storytellers and I love teaching the necessary concepts through stories from my career which students tell me are interesting – and usually contain some drama and humor. 

How would you describe your teaching philosophy?

My teaching philosophy is to be engaging and interactive, not straight lecture-based. I begin most classes with a clip from a famous movie or TV show to “set the table” for students. I have found that relating legal concepts in this way enables students to see these concepts in action in a fun and informative way. Class should be instructional but also fun. Again, this comes from the trial lawyer in me. The class is like my “jury” and good trial lawyers need to keep the jury engaged.  

What is your favorite quote and why?

My late mother used to often say, “that’s why they make chocolate and vanilla” to emphasize that people have different viewpoints on an issue and that we must recognize that someone isn’t necessarily wrong because they do not agree with your viewpoint. It has always helped me keep an open mind, seek compromise, and problem solve, which is becoming increasingly more important in today’s society. In business, and especially in business law, solving problems often comes from listening to the other side’s viewpoint and fashioning a solution that meets the goals of both. Remembering my mom’s quote helps with that.  

What do you hope to bring to the McDonough community?

I know that I have big shoes to fill following legendary professor Thomas Cooke, but I hope to continue his legacy by providing students with an engaging, challenging, and rewarding business law experience. I also want to help students in their post-graduate careers by connecting them with professionals I have built relationships with in my career and develop strong and collaborative relationships with my fellow faculty members.