DAVITA E. VANCE-COOKS
Director
Davita E. Vance-Cooks is the Director of the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO), the
agency’s chief executive officer. A seasoned business executive with more than 35 years of
private sector and Federal Government management experience, she is the first woman and
first African-American to lead the agency.
Vance-Cooks has held a succession of senior management positions at the GPO since joining
the agency in 2004. She served as the Deputy Managing Director of Customer Services, with
the responsibility for overseeing the GPO’s liaison with Federal agencies for in-house print
production and printing procurement services. She then served as the Managing Director
of GPO’s Publications and Information Sales business unit, where she oversaw a large print
distribution/supply chain operation with customers across the United States.
In January 2011, Vance-Cooks was named the GPO’s Chief of Staff. In December 2011, she
was named Deputy Public Printer, and in that capacity she served as Acting Public Printer
from January 2012-August 2013. President Barack Obama nominated Vance-Cooks to be
Public Printer on May 9, 2013, and the U.S. Senate confirmed her as the 27th Public Printer
on August 1, 2013. In December 2014, her title was changed to Director as the result of
legislation she supported re-designating the GPO as the Government Publishing Office, in
recognition of the GPO’s role as a provider of digital as well as print services.
Under her leadership the GPO has followed a program of cutting costs while improving
services, generating positive net income for the agency each year while modernizing the
GPO’s operations and expanding the availability of Government information digitally via
mobile apps, bulk data downloads, and e-Books. Her objective has been to move the GPO
from a print-centric to a content-centric focus in the digital era, a strategy that was validated
by a congressionally-mandated study of the GPO by the National Academy of Public
Administration. The agency has earned several digital Government achievement awards, was
the first legislative branch agency to move to cloud technology, and has partnered with the
private sector to increase information access. At the same time she has worked to improve
work life at the GPO. The agency has been rated as a “best place to work” by the GPO’s employees and as an “innovative agency” by the Partnership for Public Service.
Before coming to the GPO, Vance-Cooks held several private sector management positions in
the health insurance industry. She was the Senior Vice-President of Operations for NYLCare
MidAtlantic Health. She served as the Director of Customer Service and Claims, Director of
Membership and Billing, and Director of Market Research and Product Development for Blue
Cross Blue Shield Plans. She also served as the General Manager of HTH Worldwide Insurance
Services. Vance-Cooks holds a B.A. from Tufts University and an M.B.A. from Columbia
University. She and her husband Clifford Cooks reside in Fairfax County, VA. They are the
parents of two grown children.