WASHINGTON - The White House announced today that Chief Usher Admiral Stephen W. Rochon, a highly decorated Coast Guard officer who has dedicated four years of service to the Executive Residence at the White House, will leave the White House to become the Principal Executive for Strategic Integration at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), one of the largest and most complex components of the Department of Homeland Security.  Admiral Rochon is the eighth person and first ever African American to serve as Director of the President’s Executive Residence and “Chief Usher.”  President George W. Bush appointed Admiral Rochon to the position in February 2007 and President Obama asked him to continue when he took office in January 2009.  Admiral Rochon has successfully led a team of Executive Residence employees in executing major events from state visits and Presidential press conferences, to the annual Easter Egg Roll and East Room events, while preserving the most historic house in America. 

“I am truly delighted to accept this great opportunity to assist the U.S. Customs and Border Protection with developing and implementing a strategic integration program to help protect our U.S. borders,” said Admiral Rochon.  “My past four years as the Director of the Executive Residence and Chief Usher at the White House has been most rewarding, and I will greatly miss my phenomenal staff, who proudly provides superior service to the President and his First Family, but I am humbled and grateful to the President for having the confidence in me to take on this new challenge, and I look forward to returning home to the Department of Homeland Security.” 

In his new role at CBP, Admiral Rochon will work on a wide range of integrated efforts to enhance border security, as well as to facilitate the flow of legitimate trade and travel across our nation’s borders.  He will assist in ensuring that CBP’s resources and activities are closely aligned with measurable outcomes of improved homeland security.

Admiral Rochon comes from a military family with members serving in nearly every branch of the military. In 1970, he enlisted in the Coast Guard and was quickly promoted up the enlisted and officer ranks where he developed an extensive background in personnel management, strategic planning, and effective interagency coordination. As the Coast Guard’s Commander of the Maintenance and Logistics Command Atlantic, Admiral Rochon was responsible for naval and civil engineering, financial management, personnel, legal, civil rights, electronic systems support, and contingency planning across 40 U.S. states, Puerto Rico, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

A New Orleans native, Admiral Rochon served as the Coast Guard's Director of Personnel Management in the aftermath of the 2005 hurricanes, providing support for Coast Guard personnel and their families, and ensuring they had housing and new job assignments. He helped rebuild and preserve the historic significance of three turn-of-the-century homes in New Orleans following the 2005 hurricanes. Admiral Rochon graduated with a BS degree in Business Management from Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans and a MS degree in National Resource Strategy from the National Defense University in Washington, D.C.