Simmons is a coach and consultant committed to helping others explore the horizon and make their mark on the world.

 
 
 

I am a leadership and equity coach, consultant, entrepreneur, and proven nonprofit leader whose consulting practice aims to empower leaders through coaching, strategy, and governance support. I believe that through self-reflection, innovation, and courageous leadership, individuals and communities have the power to transform themselves, their systems, and the world.  

Prior to coaching and consulting, I co-founded and served as the Chief Executive Officer of Education Board Partners (EBP) (now Bellwether), dedicated to improving charter school board governance to sustain effective, equitable schools. In less than five years, EBP grew from an idea to an award-winning national organization that offers governance coaching, consulting, and a resource library to support improved boards across the country. 

Before EBP, I led communications for Education Resource Strategies, evaluated program implementation at EL Education, and shaped policy and professional development for the Boston Plan for Excellence and New American Schools. But my favorite position, hands down, was teaching first grade at Benjamin Banneker Public Charter School in Cambridge, MA.

I hold a Masters in School Leadership from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Davidson College. I am an International Coaching Federation certified coach, and completed coaching training at the Teleos Leadership Institute. I currently serve as the board chair at Ensemble Learning, and advisory board member at LIFT-DC. I was the founding board chair at Education Forward DC  and a former board chair at Capital City Public Charter School in Washington, DC. I am a mentor for the Tiger Woods Foundation and a Pahara-Aspen Education Fellow.

Outside of work, I have two amazing young adult daughters who bring me hope for the world. I live just outside of DC with a black lab who is great to hike with but terrible about counter surfing. I spend as much time as I can outside hiking and fly fishing or traveling to the Blue Ridge Mountains in my native state of North Carolina.