John David Kuchta is EMBRAER’s Chief Security Officer and VP of Enterprise Risk Management. This is a Board of Directors created position directly reporting to the CEO. He is a member of the Leadership Team and responsible for threat mitigation, crisis management, security protocols, policy implementation and organizational security to include intellectual property protection. He is a retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent, former Federal Prosecutor and U.S. Diplomat. Kuchta was awarded the FBI Medal of Valor and the Atorney General’s Award for Heroism in recognition of exceptional heroism and voluntary risk of life in the face of criminal adversaries; the FBI Star for split second decision-making under fire while suffering grievous injury; the Atorney General’s Award for Excellence in furthering National Security Investigations; two United States Atorney’s Office Law Enforcement Officer of the Year awards; Florida 20th Judicial Circuit Lee County 100 Law Officer of the Year Award, Anti-Defamation Shield Award in recognition of law enforcement’s significant contributions toward protecting America from hate crimes, extremism and international terrorism; and the FBI Combat Theater Ribbon in recognition of conducting investigations of national importance in a war zone.
Kuchta earned his undergraduate degree with honors from the University of Pittsburgh. Kuchta worked full time while attending night law school at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is a retired member of the Pennsylvania Bar and a member of the Florida Bar in good standing. Upon graduation from law school, he clerked for the late Honorable Patrick J. Tamilia for the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. As a federal prosecutor in the Alexandria Division of the Eastern District of Virginia (The Rocket Docket) Kuchta prosecuted all manner of felony and misdemeanor crimes to include drug trafficking, weapons violations, crimes against children, crimes on federal reservations and white-collar crimes.
After graduating from the FBI Academy, Kuchta served in Washington, D. C., the FBI Tampa Division, Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, and as an FBI Assistant Legal Ataché at the U.S. Embassy in London, England. During his 27-year career in the FBI, he conducted investigations which resulted in criminal convictions of drug trafficking organizations, violent gangs, white collar criminals, money launderers, corrupt public officials, terrorists and corporations involved in violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Between retiring from the FBI, and securing his career with EMBRAER, Kuchta was head of Global Security and Compliance Investigations for a Fortune 50 aerospace corporation. He was assigned to the legal department and conducted ethics and compliance investigations on behalf of the General Counsel.