About | Adam Cooper

The Short Version

Technical Director, Global Operations at Hornblower Group, leading technology operations across maritime, transportation, hospitality, and industrial environments. Roughly 250 vessels, 100-plus offices and ticket booths, 5,000-plus employees. The work is the work most people do not see: standardizing the configurations, building the playbooks, and developing the team that runs all of it without any single person being load-bearing.

I translate complex technical systems into outcomes leadership can act on. I build infrastructure that holds up in environments that punish assumptions. I drive consistency across distributed teams without interrupting the operation while the standard is being installed.

Currently

Leading the second-phase global standardization of fleet and shore-side technology: ~250 vessels and 100+ sites. Phase one unified the network and security architecture. Phase two addresses what the first round did not fully solve: inventory accuracy, site condition, and the operational rigor that turns documented standards into actual practice. The objective is a fleet that does not just look standardized on a spec sheet but performs that way under real operating conditions.

How I Lead

Lead from the Front

Not from a dashboard. Alongside the team. Troubleshooting connectivity on a vessel, scripting automation, negotiating with a vendor. Firsthand understanding of the work leads to better decisions and earns the trust of the people executing them.

Build People, Not Just Systems

Growing the team's capability is how you scale. Adding headcount is how you spend money. A voluntary career development program that grew cross-departmental, with C-suite speakers contributing their own time, is what investing in people looks like in practice.

Systems That Scale

Processes and standards built so the team is not dependent on any one person. Clear goals. Documented procedures. Accountability with autonomy. When I standardize a fleet, I am standardizing how the team works, not just what gets deployed.

Where I Operate

Maritime & Fleet Technology

Vessels, shore-side offices, crews who need connectivity where it barely exists. I have deployed Starlink across the fleet, managed VSAT transitions, and built active/active failover architecture with Cradlepoint as the standard.

Enterprise Standardization at Scale

Network configurations, firewall rules, VLAN structures, rack layouts, and access points standardized so any technician can walk into any location and know exactly what they are looking at. When the blueprint is right, the team scales without scaling headcount.

Automation & Operational Efficiency

IT is a cost center. Every tool, process, and workflow has to earn its place. The team uses Ansible, PowerShell, and AI-augmented development to eliminate routine work and focus on what affects operations and revenue.

Vendor Strategy & Financial Discipline

Vendor contracts, ISP consolidation, post-acquisition technology integration, and total cost of ownership tracking. I consolidated 78 US sites onto two providers, cutting annual ISP spend by roughly 50% (about $200K), and recovered another $25K in unreturned equipment because someone was paying attention.

The Foundation

Marine Corps Discipline

Corporal, Crash Fire and Rescue Specialist, United States Marine Corps (2003–2006). Deployed to Iraq. Honorably discharged. The discipline, composure under pressure, and bias toward action are the foundation of how I lead. Disaster recovery, vendor negotiations, fleet-wide standardization. Different work, same operating posture.

Investing in People

I created a career development program that started inside IT and grew cross-departmental, with C-suite guest speakers volunteering their personal time quarterly. Peak attendance hit 37 out of 100 IT employees, with 10 to 12 attending regularly. Investing in people is how I build teams that sustain performance long after any single initiative ends.

How I'm Wired

For 10 years I ran a karate school, earned three third-degree black belts, and managed the business alongside building my IT career. Patience. Progressive development. Showing up every day. I also build with my hands. Woodworking is how I unplug: take raw material, turn it into something functional and well-crafted. Measure twice, cut once, don't skip the foundation.

Recruited Out of an Acquisition

I was the primary technical lead on Boston Harbor Cruises through Hornblower Group's October 2019 acquisition, supporting what was the largest site in the acquiring company while two Boston operations (BHC and Entertainment Cruises) were consolidated under common ownership. Hornblower recruited me directly out of that engagement in April 2020 to lead the integration as full-time Director of IT, Boston. Three promotions in five years followed.

Watch: Hornblower Group Company Profile (Vimeo) →

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