Mr. Simons is a Tony Award-winning producer and actor. He is founder and president of SimonSays Entertainment which produced the critically acclaimed films: Night Catches Us, Gun Hill Road, Blue Caprice, and Ma George. He also produced Porgy & Bess for which he won the Tony Award, the all-black Broadway revival of A Streetcar Named Desire and August Wilson's final Broadway play Radio Golf. The company's first feature film, Night Catches Us, was released nationwide by Magnolia Pictures in 2010 and is available on Netflix, Amazon, and the Showtime network. The company's second feature Gun Hill Road was released nationwide in 2011 and will be available on DVD in the spring of 2013.

Mr. Simons' corporate and management experience includes several years as a Software Engineer developing Manufacturing Operating Systems at Hewlett-Packard and later, as a Knowledge Engineer, developing Artificial Intelligence systems for companies such as Chrysler Corporation, Morton Thiokol, General Motors and the Northrop Corporation. After earning his MBA, he joined Microsoft where he managed several multi-million dollar marketing businesses including Microsoft Mail, Microsoft LAN Manager and Microsoft's back office suite of products. Mr. Simons is a recipient of the 2012 Tony Award (Best Revival of a Musical, Porgy and Bess), Heritage Award from Columbia College's Black Alumni Council, 150 Distinguished Alumni Award from University of Washington and is a Johnson & Johnson Leadership Award Fellow. He holds a BA from Columbia College, an MBA from Columbia Business School and an MFA from the University of Washington's Professional Actor Training Program. He has four children: Elise, Zora, Langston and Isaiah.