Current Status: Alumni
Graduation Year: 2001
Roger Peña (BA '01) is a national security and legislative affairs strategist for the United States Department of Defense (DoD), where he has devised geopolitical forecasts and security cooperation strategies pertaining to the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, and the Western Balkans andadvanced legislative priorities for the Department. He is currently a Special Assistant in the Office of the DoD Chief Management Officer (CMO), coordinating enterprise-wide policy on business operations, organizational management, and reform.
This career is a long way from his youthful ambitions to play soccer professionally, which led him to Hope International University as a soccer athlete, where he played four years as HIU’s goalkeeper and served as Team Captain during his senior year. He holds the HIU record for career saves (515).
“I was young and didn’t know what I was good at, except soccer,” he said. “I treasure the professors at HIU who saw something in me and challenged the way I saw the world – they helped me learn that I could be good at something beyond soccer.”
He joined the U.S. Government in 2003 as a Presidential Management Fellow (PMF), leading studies on Iranian political-military history at the Center for Army Analysis before his assignment to G-3/5/7. As a PMF, he was detailed to the U.S. Embassy in Cairo as a political-military officer. His positions have included: Country Director for the Western Balkans in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (OUSD(P)), Director of Legislative Affairs for the DoD CMO, Director of Legislative Affairs for U.S. Africa Command, Senior Legislative Assistant for Defense and Foreign Affairs to former U.S. Senator Kay Hagan, Country Director for Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in the OUSD(P), and Deputy Chief of the Middle East and Africa Branch in Headquarters Department of the Army, G-3/5/7.
He lives the HIU mission of impacting the world for Christ, and says that his HIU education prepared him for serving the public trust, and for tolerating innovative ideas and different ways of thinking, which he says is badly needed in today’s polarized political landscape.
“What really prepared me was the servant leadership that is taught at HIU,” he said. “I learned to be involved in something greater than myself.”
Mr. Peña has a Master of Science degree in National Security Strategy from the National War College, a Master of Arts degree in International Policy from George Washington University, a Master of Arts degree in Public Administration from California State University of Fullerton, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Science from Hope International University. He is proficient in Arabic and fluent in Spanish, was awarded the Office of the Secretary of Defense Award for Excellence, the North Carolina Distinguished Civilian Service Medal, the U.S. Army Superior Civilian Service Award, and the U.S. Army Commander’s Award for Civilian Service.
Mr. Peña and his wife Charlotte live in Vienna, Virginia, with their four sons: Maximilian, Leonardo, Sebastian, and Anthony.
"It is important for students to be aware of different types of professional fields in which they can apply their Christian values while making unique contributions to their communities, their country, and the world"
