Scott E. McHugh
Founding Member and Executive Leader
Institute of Homeland Security, Sam Houston University
Scott is a founding member of the executive leadership team at the Institute for Homeland Security, Sam Houston State University (SHSU).
For 24 years before joining SHSU he was Vice President, Global Asset Protection at Walmart Stores Inc, and then was Global Director Crisis Management & Chief Security Officer (CSO) at LyondellBasell Chemical Inc. Scott was honored to be named to “SECURITY” magazine’s list of “Top Corporate CSO’s in the US” for 2020 & 2021.
Before entering the corporate sector, he served in the US Foreign Service, Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DSS) retiring as a Special Agent-in-Charge. His DSS posts included Rome, Beirut, Khartoum, Moscow, Algiers, as well as in the US.
After September 11th he entered the Senior Executive Service of the new Department of Homeland Security / Transportation Security Administration and successfully led the development of behavior based anti-terrorism screening strategies to protect the nations aviation and railroads from future terrorist attacks.
He began his career as a military intelligence officer in the US Coast Guard Reserve.
Scott earned a Master of Political Management degree at The George Washington University, and a Master of Science in Strategic Intelligence from the US National Intelligence University at the Defense Intelligence Agency. He also completed the Executive Business Leadership graduate certificate program at Cornell University. He received his undergraduate education in Administration of Justice and Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh.
