A career Foreign Service Officer, Ambassador Simons previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Energy, Sanctions, and Commodities, where he led energy diplomacy initiatives worldwide. Previously, as Acting Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, he managed more than $1 billion in annual foreign assistance resources supporting U.S. international drug control and police training programs.
Ambassador Simons served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Israel. For most of the previous decade he was involved in Arab/Israeli peace negotiations.
From 1992 through 1996, Ambassador Simons served as Economic Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Quito, Ecuador. Earlier in his career, he served as lead economist on the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff, as International Economist in the Treasury Department, and at U.S. Embassies in Malawi and Colombia.
Before joining the State Department, Ambassador Simons served as Assistant Vice President for international corporate lending at a New York based commercial bank.
Ambassador Simons received his B.A. degree from Yale University and his M.B.A. in Finance from New York University. He speaks Spanish and French.
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