James S. Simpson has served as the Federal Transit Administrator from August 10, 2006, until the end of the administration of George W. Bush. Simpson graduated Magna Cum Laude from St. John’s University in New York with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Managerial Science and Economics. 

 

 He began his career in transportation as a tractor-trailer driver for a Staen Island moving company, Victory Van Lines, while attending college and eventually became the company’s CEO and developed it into an international transportation business (Victory Worldwide Transportation).

 

In 1995, New York Governor George E. Pataki appointed Simpson a commissioner of the New York State Metropolitan Transportation Authority, where he served for 10 years on the Finance Committee, the New York City Transit Committee and the Governance Committee. Additionally, Simpson was chairman of the Real Estate & Planning Committee and the Safety and Security Committee. Following 9/11, he was designated the primary MTA Board liaison to the governor’s and mayor’s offices in coordinating transit activities at the World Trade Center site. 

 

Pataki also appointed Simpson a member of the New York State Job Development Authority Board.  Under Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s administration, Simpson was appointed to the New York City Work Force Investment Board, while the New York City Council appointed him as an observer to the New York State Financial Control Board providing oversight for the city’s finances. In November 2005, Simpson was confirmed as a member of the St. Lawrence Seaway Advisory Board, for which he serves as chairman.

 

Official Bio