Captain Cost serves as Chief of the Office of Design and Engineering Standards for the Coast Guard’s Assistant Commandant for Prevention Policy. His responsibilities include the development of U.S. national maritime safety and security standards for the commercial shipping industry. In this role, he also serves as the U.S. Head of Delegation for the International Maritime Organization’s Ship Design and Construction Subcommittee, overseeing U.S. initiatives in the development of international standards.

Previously, Captain Cost served on special assignment as the Resource and Strategy Coordination Leader for the Assistant Commandant for Prevention Policy and was responsible for shaping and aligning the Prevention program’s strategic direction, resource priorities, and budget development. These programs include waterways management, navigation and boating safety, ports and facilities, merchant mariner credentialing, vessel documentation, marine casualty investigations, commercial vessel inspections and port state control. 

His operational experience includes serving as Commanding Officer of Marine Safety Unit Lake Charles where he worked with federal, state, and local government agencies to carry out the Coast Guard’s maritime safety, security, and environmental protection missions throughout an 8,400 square mile area of responsibility in Southwest Louisiana. This included the safe and secure oversight of the area’s $120 billion energy infrastructure expansion, helping to transform the area into one of the nation’s largest exporters of liquefied natural gas. In addition he served as the Chief of Inspections at Sector New Orleans where he supervised one of the largest and most diverse inspection offices in the country, conducting 2500+ vessel inspections per year in an AOR that included Mexico, Central & South America. It was during this assignment that he also responded to the Deepwater Horizon Spill of National Significance, leading the initial stand-up of the Incident Command Post at Houston, providing critical oversight of decisions and operational orders developed to stop the flow of oil from the Macondo well. Captain Cost’s operational afloat tours include Executive Officer on the Coast Guard Cutter SITKINAK and as First Lieutenant and Deck Watch Officer on the Coast Guard Cutter TAMPA. 

His technical experience includes service as the Executive Officer of the Marine Safety Center where he oversaw the daily operations for the engineering annual review and approval of nearly 20,000 plans for the design and construction of U.S. and foreign vessels equipment, and offshore energy installations. Captain Cost also served as an Associate Professor of Engineering and Marine Safety Training Program coordinator at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy where his responsibilities included the development and delivery of the Academy’s Marine Safety Curriculum for the 950 cadets, as well as the development and execution of cadet summer training programs at marine inspection feeder ports and commercial vessel indoctrination ship rides. His first tour at the Marine Safety Center was as a Staff Naval Architect and member of the high profile Salvage Engineering Response Team (SERT) where he evaluated the structures and stability of commercial passenger vessels and provided salvage engineering assistance to Coast Guard Captains of the Port around the country on hundreds of vessel marine casualties. 

Captain Cost holds master degrees in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan. He is a 1999 graduate of the United States Coast Guard Academy where he received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. He is also a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Virginia. His military awards include four Meritorious Service Medals, two Coast Guard Commendation Medals, a Coast Guard Achievement medal, two Commandant’s Letters of Commendation and multiple other team, unit, and service awards. 

Captain Cost has been happily married to his wife Laurie of Richmond, Virginia for 18 years and together they have two daughters, 16 year old Isabella and 13 year old Sydney.