Prior to assuming that role, he worked as president and CEO of IP Engineering Group Corporation and as a board member of Rocky Mountain Innovation Partners.

During his time at Brookhaven, he led a pilot program across the United States Department of Energy called Agreements for Commercializing Technology.

[3][4] At Lubrizol, Copan led the company's European research and development during the late 1980s and early 1990s, including working with countries that had recently broken away from the Soviet Union.

At that time, Copan said his top priority in the role would be to implement the Cybersecurity Framework, a National Institute of Standards and Technology effort to improve network security across federal agencies and industry.

[10] In 2022, Copan contributed to a letter to the United States Department of Justice signed by former federal officials of both parties that criticized the Biden administration's proposed policy changes for standard-essential patents.