Rich Choppa is the President of DellaCioppa Inc., an Aerospace and Defense Consulting firm, providing expertise in leadership, program management and operations, business development and sales, mergers and acquisitions, talent management, and strategic and organizational planning. In addition to his business, he volunteers as a mentor for The Heroes Foundation, helping Special Operators transition to civilian careers.
In 2020, he retired after 17 years as an executive at Boeing, most recently as Program Director for Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) Sustainment Programs and former Senior Director of Global Sales and Marketing for the company’s Missile & Weapons Systems division. In those roles he supervised Boeing engineers and sales professionals across all Boeing weapons systems - bombs, rockets, missiles, laser weapons, missile defense systems and nuclear weapons systems.
Prior to joining Boeing, Choppa served 21 years in the U.S. Army, starting as a private and retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. He served as a forward observer, fire support officer and commander in Ranger and Airborne units with multiple worldwide deployments. As a Eurasian Foreign Area Officer, he served as Defense and Army Attaché in Moldova and Belarus, START/INF Deputy Team Chief at On-Site Inspection Agency, and Russian Brigade Liaison Team Chief in Bosnia. He also served in the Pentagon as Russia Country Director, Caspian Manager, and finally as director of Caucasus/Central Asia Policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. A combat veteran of the Panama, Iraq and Balkan conflicts, he is also a veteran of the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon.
Choppa has a bachelor’s degree in European History from the State University of New York and a Master of Arts in Russian Area Studies from Indiana University. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies.
