Coward is an American MPR Principal Officer and a former President of the American Nuclear Society where he served in the Nuclear Installations Safety Division and the Operations and Power Division since 2001.
He holds a B.S.
degree from Duke University in mechanical engineering and held posts at both the Nuclear Energy Institute Nuclear Strategic Issues Advisory Committee and Supplier Advisory Committees.
He also worked at the Electric Power Research Institute where he was in charge of its Advanced Light Water Reactor Program.
In 2010 he was a leader of the United States Department of Energy's Nuclear Power 2010 Program and was behind the construction of both the advanced boiling water reactor at one of the Suntech Power sites in Texas and a small modular reactor at the NuScale Power.