David Matos Simas (born January 5, 1970) is an American lawyer, former government official, and a former politician. He was the President of the

Obama Foundation The Barack Obama Foundation is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization founded in 2014. It oversees the creation of the Barack Obama Presidential Center, runs the My Brother's Keeper Alliance (a program Barack Obama began while he was president) ...

from 2021 to 2023, having previously served as its CEO from 2016 to 2021 * Also available at
Grenzebach Glier and Associates
/ref> and served in Barack Obama's administration as the White House Director of Political Affairs from 2014 to 2016.

Early life and education

Simas was born and raised in

Taunton, Massachusetts Taunton is a city in and the county seat of Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. Taunton is situated on the Taunton River, which winds its way through the city on its way to Mount Hope Bay, to the south. As of the 2020 United States ...

, the son of

Portuguese American Portuguese Americans (), also known as Luso-Americans (''luso-americanos''), are citizens and residents of the United States who are connected to the country of Portugal by birth, ancestry, or citizenship. Americans and others who are not nativ ...

immigrant parents, António and Deolinda Simas. Deolinda lost two of her fingers in a faulty machine at the silver factory where she worked when David was a child. The Portuguese immigrant lawyer who worked on the case inspired David to become a lawyer. He attended Coyle and Cassidy High School and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from

Stonehill College Stonehill College is a private Catholic college in Easton, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded in 1948 by the Congregation of Holy Cross and is located on the original estate of Frederick Lothrop Ames Jr., with 29 buildings that compl ...

. He later earned a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from the

Boston College Law School Boston College Law School (BC Law) is the law school of Boston College, a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. It is situated on a campus in Newton, Massachusetts, about from the university's main campus in Chestn ...

in 1995.

Career

Simas began his political career working as an intern in Senator Edward M. Kennedy's office in 1989. He was later elected to the Taunton School Board in 1993 and the Taunton City Council in 1997 and 1999. He later served as president of the council and worked as an advisor to the mayor of Taunton. After leaving the city council he served as an assistant register of deeds for the Northern district office of the Bristol County Registry of Deeds. He was later elected as the new Register of Deeds of the Northern district of Bristol County in 2004. He won reelection in 2006 but later resigned to accept a position in Governor Deval Patrick's administration. He formerly served as deputy general counsel to the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into ...

Post Audit and Oversight Bureau and practiced law with the law firm of Gay & Gay Associates, PC. He worked as deputy chief of staff to

Massachusetts Governor The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the head of government of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The governor is the chief executive, head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonw ...

Deval Patrick Deval Laurdine Patrick (born July 31, 1956) is an American politician who served as the 71st governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015. He was the first African Americans, African-American Governor of Massachusetts and the first Democratic Pa ...

from 2007 until 2009. In 2009, he joined the Obama

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

as a deputy assistant to the president, working under Senior Advisor David Axelrod. He worked as director of opinion research for President Obama's 2012 re-election campaign and then served as a liaison between the president and Democratic officials for two and a half years. Simas was appointed CEO of the Obama Foundation in December 2016.

Personal life

Simas married his high school sweetheart, Shauna. They have two daughters and live in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, CA.

References

External links

Letter from David Simas, CEO - The Obama Foundation
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Simas, David 1970 births American political consultants Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign Boston College Law School alumni Living people Obama administration personnel Politicians from Chicago Politicians from Taunton, Massachusetts Stonehill College alumni 21st-century American lawyers 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century United States government officials Massachusetts lawyers American people of Portuguese descent 20th-century Massachusetts politicians