About Guy Cottrell:
Guy Cottrell was Chief Postal Inspector for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service from July 2010 until his retirement in December 2018. In his role, Cottrell oversaw all operations of the Postal Inspection Service, which includes the national headquarters, 17 field divisions, two service centers, and a national forensic laboratory. The installations are staffed by over 1,200 postal inspectors, more than 550 postal police officers, and nearly 600 support personnel. Chief Cottrell was also the chairman of the Universal Postal Union’s Postal Security Group. He reported directly to the Postmaster General.
Prior to his appointment, Cottrell served as Deputy Chief Inspector, overseeing national security programs. A native of West Virginia, Cottrell joined the Postal Service in 1987 as a letter carrier in New Orleans, where he spent much of his upbringing. In 1990, Cottrell was promoted to Postal Inspector in the former New Orleans Division, where he investigated internal and external mail theft throughout Louisiana and southern Mississippi.
Since that time, Cottrell has held a number of supervisory and management positions in several field divisions, including Postal Inspector in Charge of the Washington Division during much of the joint FBI/USPIS Amerithrax investigation.
In 2008, Cottrell came to the national headquarters as Postal Inspector in Charge of the Security & Crime Prevention and Communications group. During this time, he guided the organization toward a risk and management analysis platform, streamlined a wide array of security-related programs, and implemented numerous cost-effective and innovative solutions. His group also produced several security and crime-prevention publications and videos, and overhauled the Postal Inspection Service’s public website.
Chief Cottrell holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of New Orleans.