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David  Simms

Managing Partner of Bridgestar, Boston

David Simms is a partner of The Bridgespan Group, a nonprofit spin off from Bain & Company, and is the Managing Partner of Bridgestar. Bridgestar’s mission is to increase the flow of passionate and highly skilled senior leaders into and within nonprofit organizations focusing in particular on management-centric and bridger-friendly positions including: EDs, COOs, CFOs, and the heads of marketing, planning and HR.

David joined the Bridgespan Group from MBNA America where he was a Senior Executive Vice President responsible for growing new businesses within what at the time was the world's largest independent credit card company.

In 1988, he did his first "bridge" out of the private sector when, after five years at Bain and Company, he was selected as a White House Fellow. Subsequently, he "bridged" back to the private sector and ran his own marketing-consulting firm before becoming CEO/COO of the Red Cross Blood Services Region in Washington/Baltimore.

Mr. Simms has served on the Board of Directors of Opportunity International-U.S. for almost twenty years, as well as the Opportunity International Global Network Board for the last five years. He Chaired the U.S. board from 2000-03; formerly served as a trustee and currently is an Advisory Board Member of the University of Pennsylvania; is an Elder at Church of the Saviour in Wayne, PA, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Harvard Business School Club of Philadelphia.

Mr. Simms holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School where he graduated with distinction. As an undergraduate, he earned a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Applied Science from Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science. He graduated from Penn summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa.