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Simon E. Bland
Biography
S4@falco.one
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Simon Bland is the Assistant Secretary of the United States Department of Homeland Security for International Affairs.
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Previously, under President Trump's first term, Simon served concurrently as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration (acting) and as Director of the Office of Business Liaison within the Office of the Secretary.
Prior to Federal service, Simon spent 14 years in New York as a Managing Director and Senior Banker at JPMorgan Chase. He has extensive experience advising Fortune 500 CEOs and broad expertise in finance, economics, relationship management, leading people and banking.
At the Department of Homeland Security, Simon leads the international mission to safeguard U.S. national security. He directs international policy development, builds strategic partnerships, and oversees DHS’s response to cross-border threats. Simon aligns DHS’s international strategies with national security priorities, addressing challenges such as immigration, border security, terrorism, cybersecurity, human trafficking, and crisis response. As the Secretary's principal foreign policy advisor, Simon directs high-level negotiations, secures international agreements, and guides a team of policy experts to advance U.S. interests.
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In his previous capacity during Trump 45, Simon served on the senior leadership teams for both the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) and the Office of the Secretary at the Department of Commerce.
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is an agency that deals with issues involving national security and sensitive technologies. The Bureau controls the export of dual-use and military items for national security‚ foreign policy‚ nonproliferation‚ and short supply reasons.
Concurrently, Simon served as the Director of the Office of Business Liaison for the Secretary of Commerce. The Director is the Department’s key link between the public and private sectors, and is the Secretary’s primary relationship manager.
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At JPMorgan, Simon was responsible for client assets in excess of $1.5 billion, was jointly first in his class to achieve the title of Managing Director and was consistently ranked as one of the Private Bank’s top bankers.
He served as the co-Chairman of the JPMorgan Global Wealth Management Technology and Innovation Council and played an integral role steering a $500+ million annual budget. Simon was also a JPMorgan Chase Ambassador. In this role, he represented JPMorgan Chase to Federal, State and Local policymakers at events and roundtables and has first-hand knowledge of financial policy, banking legislation and applicable regulation.
Simon received his Master’s degree in Intelligence from the American Military University and concentrated in intelligence operations.
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He previously graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and later served as the JPMorgan firm-wide Executive Sponsor for recruiting at UPenn.
In 2016, Simon was selected to be a Presidential Leadership Scholar. This highly selective program is a bi-partisan partnership between the Presidential Centers of George W. Bush, William J. Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Lyndon B. Johnson, and seeks to develop the leadership capacity and network of future national leaders.
He is an associate member of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance and the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, and lives in Washington DC.
