JAMES M. SIMON, JR.

ADVISOR

James (Jim) is the principal partner of a management-consulting firm specializing in advising companies and governments around the world on cyber security and a variety of other matters including business development, contract capture, M&A, as well as strategic program initiatives. He also teaches cyber security in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at The University of Alabama and teaches ancient Egypt for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

He retired in 2012 as Microsoft’s Chief Strategist for its worldwide public sector and its executive sponsor for the State of Alabama. Jim’s role was to engage with senior government officials around the world concerning Microsoft products most notably in cyber security, advanced analytics, and research and development. In 2004, he founded Microsoft’s Institute for Advanced Technology in Governments, and for five years, led its efforts to connect Microsoft’s advanced research and development activities with the global public sector.

Jim is retired from the US Army Reserve, was a principal negotiator for the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, and, a career CIA analyst, he was appointed by President Clinton, and confirmed by the Senate, as Assistant Director of Central Intelligence for Administration. He serves on several corporate boards and various governmental advisory groups in the US and elsewhere.

Jim has written on cyber security, military history, intelligence, and security. He has presented papers before various professional associations including the Business Executives for National Security, the Operations Research Society of America, the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, the Kokoda Foundation, and the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association. He has made numerous public appearances and has lectured at both civilian universities and military colleges in the US and elsewhere.

Jim has a B.A. from The University of Alabama and an M.A. from the University of Southern California. He has studied at the University of Maryland, the Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität in Frankfurt, the Universität Bayern e.V. in München, the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, and Harvard University. Jim interned at Radio Free Europe and held both Herman and Earhart fellowships.

A native of Montgomery, Alabama, Jim’s interests include his church, family, Egyptology, history, poetry, genealogy, linguistics, golf, and The Crimson Tide. He is married to Cheryl and they have three children and five grandchildren. Family, friends, and innocent bystanders find him somewhat pedantic.