New Los Alamos County Emergency Manager Beverley Simpson. Photo by Oliver Morris
Simpson brings to the job more than 20 years combined experience in Emergency Response and Homeland Security/Defense, WMD, Public Health, with specialized training in Emergency Response, Biological and Radiological Emergency Weapons of Mass Destruction and advanced knowledge of and experience in technologies directly or indirectly related to WMD and/or terrorist threats.
“I’m so honored to have the opportunity to serve my community,” Simpson said during an interview today with the Los Alamos Daily Post.
She and her husband Robert have lived in Los Alamos for 13 years. Robert works at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the couple has two grown sons.
Previously, Simpson was the Operations Division director for the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management responsible for Preparedness, Response and Recovery, Intelligence and Security and Urban Search and Rescue and served as the State Disaster Coordinating Officer during the 2014 flooding events.
Prior to her position with the State of New Mexico, Simpson was employed at Los Alamos Medical Center as the Laboratory Director and Emergency Manager, and at Los Alamos National Laboratory as a Project Lead and Technical Staff Member where she led a multi-disciplinary team on the DHS Radiological Community Preparedness Resources Project (RadCPR), providing scientific and technical assistance on focusing on Radiological Dispersal Devices, led a Biological Response Team for the Department of Homeland Security in support of BioWatch, and participated on the National Technical Nuclear Forensic team.
“I’m excited about being the emergency manager in Los Alamos because this is my community and its diverse culture, critical infrastructure and natural hazards make it very interesting for someone with my background,” Simpson said.
Simpson also is a Commissioned Officer in the United States Air Force Reserves where serves as the principal advisor to the Command Surgeon for all Aeromedical Evacuation management activities and concepts throughout NORAD-USNORTHCOM.
Simpson was born in Great Britain. She explained that her father was in the Air Force and the family traveled all over the world.
