Following his graduation from Edison High School in 1992, Sean Simonson attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Economics. Sean enlisted in the Fire Academy and was appointed as a Firefighter for the City of Milpitas, California. Nearly a decade into his career, Sean had a mountain bike accident that resulted in a spinal cord injury, rendering him quadriplegic; nine months later he returned to work at the same fire station as an Emergency Manager. In 2009, Sean applied to the Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s National Preparedness Leadership Initiative and was awarded a Distinguished Scholars Fellowship. He is also an accomplished adaptive mountain bike racer, winning titles at the local, state, and world championship levels.
