Emmy Simmons
Co-Chair, Partnerships to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa/Asia
Emmy Simmons is an independent consultant on international development issues with a focus on food, agriculture, and Africa. She serves as co-chair of AGree, an initiative that brings together a diverse group of interests to transform U.S. food and agriculture policy to meet the challenges of the future, and as a non-resident senior advisor to the CSIS Global Food Security Project. She also serves on the boards of several organizations engaged in international agriculture and global development more broadly, including the World Vegetable Center, the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa, and she sits on several advisory committees for initiatives focused on agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Emmy completed a career of nearly 30 years with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2005, having served since 2002 as the Assistant Administrator for Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade, a Presidentially-appointed, Senate-confirmed position. Prior to joining USAID, she worked in the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs in Monrovia, Liberia and taught and conducted research at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria. She began her international career as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines from 1962-64. Emmy Simmons is a Member of the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition.