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Richard Simpson: Founder
Richard Simpson (first Chairman of CPSC) on the cover of Business Week Magazine spearheading product safety in the US.
Mr. Simpson's work experience includes serving on the Board of Directors of ten different for-profit corporations, three as Chairman and President & CEO of four others. In addition to general management he has had direct hands-on experience with all normal business functions, including finance, marketing, sales legal, human resources, engineering, and manufacturing. He has had direct management responsibility for as few as eight and as many as eight thousand employees.
Mr. Simpson's work experience also includes service on the Board of Directors of seven non-profit corporations. Four of these non-profits are national in scope, including Underwriter's Laboratories (UL), Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), and American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
He has served in two Presidential Administrations. In the Nixon Administration Mr. Simpson was the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Science & Technology with direct responsibility for seven thousand employees including the US Patent Office and the National Institute of Science & Technology. He reported directly to President Ford as the first Chairman & CEO of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. His Chairman position was described by Congressman Whiten as "having more power than a good man would want or a bad man should have."
Mr. Simpson has a degree in Electrical Engineering from UC Berkeley and has done graduate work in engineering at Stanford and law at UC Berkeley.
Photo: Richard Simpson shaking hands with President Gerald Ford as the first Chairman of the CPSC.