David Simpson

Rear Admiral Retired David Simpson has influenced National Defense and Homeland Security policy and provided cutting edge Information, Communications Technology and Cybersecurity solutions for more than 30 years. 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, and cybersecurity activities for more than 30,000 commercial companies in the telecommunications sector. 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). 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 RED 100 Award and the Next Generation 911 Institute’s 2017 Government Leader Award.

Simpson is responsible for cybersecurity course and program development in the Master of Information Technology and the Master of Business Administration programs. He works with other Pamplin and Virginia Tech faculty to sustain a curriculum that now includes multiple courses in cybersecurity, leveraging the particular strengths and capabilities of Pamplin and Virginia Tech. Simpson teaches Cybersecurity Risk Management, Leadership and Ethics.