David Simpson

Admiral David Simpson has influenced National Defense and Homeland Security policy and provided cutting edge Information, Communications Technology and Cybersecurity solutions for over thirty years. Currently leading Pelorus Consulting Services, he previously served as Chief of the Federal Communications Commission's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau from 2013 to 2017. As Bureau Chief, he oversaw public safety, homeland security, emergency management, cybersecurity, and disaster preparedness activities for over 30,000 commercial companies in the telecommunications sector. He worked with public and private partners and through the rule-making process to ensure that our nation's networks are accessible, reliable, resilient, and secure, ready to meet the public safety needs of Americans during emergencies.

Admiral Simpson served as the vice director of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) from 2011 to 2013. In that capacity, he helped lead an organization responsible for planning, developing and providing interoperable global communications for the Defense community. He also served as a senior delegate to the 2012 ITU World Radio Telecommunications Conference and to the World Conference on International Telecom (WCIT).

From 2009 through 2010, as Director for Communications and Information Services for U.S. Forces Iraq in Baghdad, he synchronized strategic and operational-level communications for U.S. Forces and assisted the Government of Iraq in building capacity for the information and communications technology sector. Simpson's extensive career includes assignments with responsibility for networks, IT, and crisis communications for afloat and other deployed forces in the United States, Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America.

Simpson is a native of Burbank, California and a 1982 graduate of the United States Naval Academy. He earned a master's degree in systems technology from the Naval Postgraduate School. Recipient of the Navy's Copernicus Award, Federal Computing Weekly's FED 100 Award and the Next Generation 911 Institute's 2017 Government Leader Award.