FORT BELVOIR, Va. –
The U.S. Senate confirmed Army Maj. Gen. Mark Simerly for appointment to the rank of lieutenant general and director of the Defense Logistics Agency Dec. 5 after a 10-month impasse of Defense Department nominations. He will replace Navy Vice Adm. Michelle Skubic upon her retirement in February.
Simerly has led the Combined Arms Support Command at Fort Gregg-Adams (formerly Fort Lee), Virginia, since July 2021 and directed DLA Troop Support in Philadelphia from July 2017 to June 2019. Between those assignments, he headed the 19th Expeditionary Sustainment Command in Daegue, South Korea.
His other command assignments include the 4th Sustainment Brigade at Fort Cavazos (formerly Fort Hood), Texas, from January 2012 to August 2013; the 4th Infantry Division’s 704th Brigade Support Battalion also at Fort Cavazos when the unit reflagged as the 27th Brigade Support Team, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division and deployed to Tallil, Iraq, from June 2008 to June 2009; and Bravo Company of the 101st Airborne Division’s 801st Maintenance Support Battalion at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, from December 1996 to May 1999.
Simerly’s key staff assignments include director of capabilities, development, and integration for CASCOM from August 2015 to June 2017; assistant chief of staff for logistics for III Corps from February 2014 to July 2015; director of logistics for U.S. forces in Afghanistan from August 2013 to February 2014; assistant chief of staff for logistics for the U.S. Army Operational Test Command from July 2011 to January 2012; and senior combat service support observer at the Joint Readiness Training Center from September 2009 to July 2011.
In 2021, Simerly was inducted into DLA Troop Support’s Hall of Fame for leading humanitarian support during the 2017 hurricane season and for contributions that helped the subordinate command achieve a record $17.6 billion in sales for fiscal 2018.
“Maj. Gen. Simerly inspired his leaders with the responsibility of providing the workforce with motivation, a sense of mission and pathways leading to performance excellence,” according to his award citation.
The husband and father of two children earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and English from the University of Richmond and was a distinguished military graduate. He also has a master’s degree in national resource strategy from National Defense University and graduated from the Command and General Staff College, Industrial College of the Armed Forces, and Army Force Management School.
His awards include the Defense Superior Service Award, Legion of Merit with three oak leaf clusters, Bronze Star with one oak leaf cluster, Defense Meritorious Service Medal with one oak leaf cluster and Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters.