Nick Simmons felt the call of service early in his career when, at 23 years old, he left a short stint on Wall Street to become a 7th grade math teacher in Harlem, New York. At 26, he became one of the youngest public school Acting Principals in the state of New York. Seventy-five percent of Simmons’ students were from low-income families, and 97% were students of color. Despite the adversity they faced, they performed among the highest achieving students in the State of New York.

From Harlem, Simmons went on to earn a joint Master’s in Public Policy and an MBA from Harvard to learn how he could tackle systemic public policy challenges in state, local, and federal government. He then returned to Connecticut to join the Lamont Administration - where over the course of three years - he worked to support the design and implementation of policies, including investing hundreds of millions of dollars into Connecticut schools and infrastructure, growing the state’s economy, training thousands of workers to fill open jobs, and transitioning to a clean energy future.

In 2021, Simmons was tapped to serve as a Senior Advisor in the Biden Administration, where he oversaw the effort to reopen schools nationwide during COVID-19 and ensured over $190 billion dollars of federal education aid was steered to properly address learning loss, teacher shortages, and the national student mental health crisis.

Nick for Connecticut State Senate →