Most recently McCown served as an advisor to the 2016 presidential transition as a core member of the president-elect's infrastructure policy and agency action teams. He then served as an interim key advisor to Secretary of TransportationElaine Chao during her initial days in office where he raised concern about the state of the country's aging infrastructure. Until 2007 McCown served in several leadership roles during both terms of George W. Bush's presidency in Washington D.C. Appointed initially to the U.S. Senior Executive Service by Democratic Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta, he was later reappointed by Republican Transportation Secretary Mary Peters,. McCown initially worked as the first chief counsel of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, where he was responsible for legal oversight of the nation's trucking, motor coach, moving industry and NAFTA. During this time, He advocated for stronger truck and bus safety regulations, including better oversight of the commercial bus industry and the requirement for all buses to be equipped with seat belts. Mineta then appointed McCown to become the first acting administrator / CEO and first deputy administrator / COO of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. During his tenure he was responsible for oversight of over one million daily shipments of hazardous materials by land, sea, and air including the nation's 2.6 million miles of pipelines. McCown was instrumental in restoring national critical infrastructure following hurricane Katrina and Rita and received the department's highest award for his actions while operating under a secretarial designation. He also oversaw the government's initial response to the largest and implemented the damage prevention program known as "811". While serving as the country's chief energy transportation regulator, McCown was first to raise concerns over the country's aging pipeline infrastructure network but was also avid in his support of pipelines over other transport methods. He has continued to advance safety and has called for tougher standards following gas pipeline incidents in and . He was also one of the first experts to older rail cars transporting crude oil known as DOT-111 tank cars. From 1988 to 1998 McCown served on active duty as a U.S. naval officer and as a naval aviator and participated in worldwide deployments including Operation Desert Storm and Operation Uphold Democracy. From 1998 until his retirement in 2013, McCown served as a member of the ready reserve force with active duty assignments in Europe, Africa, and Asia including Operation Unified Assistance. Since retiring from federal service, McCown has continuously served as the Chairman and CEO of Nouveau a consulting and advisory firm. He is also the Chairman and Founder of the Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure, a national non-profit organization focused on developing solutions to the nation's most pressing infrastructure issues. He also previously served on the Southlake, Texas Planning & Zoning Commission where he notably voted against a new natural gas pipeline within the city's limits. McCown is a member and vice chair of the federal government's Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee, a member of the Salmon P. Chase College of Law's Board of Visitors, Co-Chair of the American Bar Association's Transportation Committee of the Administrative and Regulatory Law Section, a Program Council Member for the , a member of Europe's Pipeline Technology Conference , and a Fellow of the , a global honorary society of attorneys, judges, law faculty, and legal scholars whose public and private careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the highest principles of the legal profession and to the welfare of their communities.
