Born in Portadown, Northern Ireland, Simon was educated at Portadown College and left Northern Ireland in 2001 to attend the University of Abertay Dundee, where he obtained a BSc (Hons) in Business Computing. Following a number of IT related roles in both NHS Tayside and BT, Simon moved into lecturing at Dundee College in 2008, specialising in Network Management and Cisco Administration.

In November 2010 Simon was promoted to the role of Curriculum Manager in Computing at Dundee College and has remained in Academic Management ever since, culminating in his current role of Vice Principal Curriculum & Attainment within the merged Dundee & Angus College. In this role Simon overall responsibility for the College curriculum as well as ICT, Marketing, External Relations, Learning & Digital Resources and Outreach Centres.

Simon also works as an Associate Assessor for Education Scotland, is a member of the Digital Skills Partnership and is interim chair of the Board of the Management for Dundee Science Centre.