Colonel James Kidd "Jim" Simpson, CD was born in Smith's Falls, Ontario on 29 June 1950. After growing up in Picton, Ontario, he enrolled in the Canadian Forces in 1969 under the Regular Officer Training Plan, attending Royal Roads Military College at Victoria and the Royal Military College at Kingston. In 1973, he graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering.
After completing basic officer and Military Engineering training, Colonel Simpson was posted to CFB Edmonton where he worked first as the Engineering and then as the Production Officer. In 1975, he was posted to Germany where he held junior command and staff positions in the Brigade Group Combat Engineer Regiment located in Lahr. In 1978, Colonel Simpson was assigned to academic duties at the Royal Military College where he taught and researched engineering topics and was awarded a Masters Degree in Civil Engineering.
In 1981, Colonel Simpson was posted to Mobile Command Headquarters in St-Hubert, Quebec where he held general staff positions and completed the Canadian Land Force Command and Staff College in 1982. Following this posting, he completed the Royal Australian Staff College course at Queenscliffe in 1985 and returned to Ottawa to work in a joint Canadian/American Major Crown Project to modernise the North American Air Defence system.
In 1986, Colonel Simpson was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel and allocated to duties as the Senior Staff Officer responsible for construction programmes in Mobile Command. Following a short tour in this capacity, Colonel Simpson was appointed as the Base Engineer at CFB Halifax, the largest of the Canadian Forces Bases. In 1992, he returned to Mobile Command Headquarters to the Senior Staff Officer position responsible for infrastructure, construction engineering and environmental matters. Shortly thereafter, Colonel Simpson was promoted to his present rank and appointed as the Command Engineer of the Army.
In 1994, Colonel Simpson was assigned to duties as the Deputy Chief of Staff Military Engineering within Maritime Command. Later that year, Colonel Simpson was assigned to serve for a one-year tour of duty in the former Republic of Yugoslavia as the Force Engineer to the United Nations Protection Force Commander. Upon completion of that duty Colonel Simpson was returned to Canada to act as the Director of Defence Geomatics in Ottawa. In 1996, he was assigned to duties within the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as the Chief of the Command Group Secretariat, Headquarters Allied Forces Central Region in Brunssum, The Netherlands.
In 1999, Colonel Simpson was appointed as the Director Military Engineering for the Canadian Forces, renamed J3 Engineer in July 2000. Coincident with the 1999 appointment, Colonel Simpson was also appointed Branch Advisor for the Canadian Military Engineers. Colonel Simpson is registered as a Professional Engineer in Nova Scotia, is a member of several professional associations, is actively involved in the local chapel community and is an avid sailor and diver. He is married to the former Susan Ann Smith of Bath, Ontario and has a son, Duncan attending Brookfield High School.