James Colson

James Colson, Learning Director, Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, and Supportability, Defense Acquisition University, DoD

James (Jim) Colson has almost 35 years of service as a DoD civilian. He currently serves as Learning Director for Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, and Supportability (RAM/S) at the Defense Acquisition University. Previously, he served as Chief, Logistics Engineering Division at US Army Materiel Command (AMC) Logistics Support Activity (LOGSA). Prior service included: Lead Technical Engineer on LOGSA’s Post Fielding Support Analysis Team, a member of the Global Combat Support System (GCSS)-Army ERP blueprint team, Policy Advisor for the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition Policy and Logistics at the Pentagon. He has worked on multiple standards-related activities, including MIL-STD-1388-2B Software Validation Team and as team lead for Life Cycle Logistics related Standards and Policy, and as Government co-chair for the development of SAE GEIA-927 and SAE GEIA-STD-0007 Logistics Product Data. He was the driving force behind the development of SAE TA STD 0017 Product Support Analysis (PSA), MIL-HDBK-502A Handbook for PSA, and SAE AS1390 LORA standard.

Jim has chaired or is the primary representative on many groups such as the Army’s Product Data & Engineering Working Group Standards Work Group, DoD representative to PDES Inc.'s Board of Directors, the DoD voting representative to ISO TC 184 SC 4 (Industrial Data) US TAG, is on the Technical Standards Board for SAE International and Chairs the SAE Systems Management Council.

Jim holds a Master of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Texas A & M University, a Bachelor of Science in General Engineering, and a Bachelor of Arts in French Language & Literature from Idaho State University. Jim holds a DoD level 3 certification in Life Cycle Logistics, is a 2-time recipient of the Department of Army medal for Civilian Achievement, the Army Superior Civilian Service Medal, is the recipient of the DoD Defense Standardization Program Distinguished Achievement Award, is a TechAmerica Technical Fellow (Logistics), is fluent in French, and is an Eagle Scout.