Lance Simmens

Lance Simmens has served in senior public policy positions for the past thirty years. Currently he is Special Assistant for Intergovernmental Affairs to Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell. In this capacity he serves an integral role in the development of wind energy in the Commonwealth. Previous to this position he was the National Director for Governmental Affairs for the Screen Actors Guild, representing over 120,000 members in Los Angeles.

During the Clinton Administration he served in senior positions in the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Commerce, and was senior advisor to the President’s Commission on Year 2000 Conversion. While at the Department of Commerce he helped establish the first Office of Sustainable Development in the Federal Government in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

He was Assistant Executive Director of the U.S. Conference of Mayors from 1987-1993, and was Senior Economic Counsel to U.S. Senator James Sasser on the Senate Budget Committee from 1981-1987. During the Carter Administration he served as Congressional Liaison Officer in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He has been quoted extensively over the years and has published articles in the New York Times and the Loyola Entertainment Law Review, as well as over 200 articles in U.S. MAYOR, the bi-weekly newspaper of the U.S. Conference of Mayors he helped co-found.

Mr. Simmens has completed doctoral coursework in public administration at George Washington University, received his MPA from Temple University, and his Bachelors degree in Political Science from Georgia Southern University. Additionally, he has completed executive programs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard Institute for International Development.

Professionally he has received numerous awards, including the U.S. Department of Commerce Gold Medal, the highest honorary award for Distinguished Achievement in the Federal Service for the development and implementation of sustainable fisheries initiatives in the Northeast and Pacific Northwest, the Public Service Citation, the highest honorary award of the Pennsylvania League of Cities and Municipalities, previous awardees included four Governors, and the Friend of County Government Award, the highest honorary award to non-members from the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania.

Simmens began his career in public service as a Governor’s Intern in the Georgia State Senate in 1976.