John works with the entire MDC team to set strategy, shape the organisation’s portfolio of work, and engage with partners and the public in addressing the urgent challenge of eliminating disparities to build a South where all people can thrive.
Before joining MDC in 2020, John held various leadership roles promoting equity, access, and inclusion at state, national, and international levels. Most recently, he served as Vice President of the Aspen Global Leadership Network at the Aspen Institute, where he mobilised more than 3,000 Fellows worldwide to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic effects.
A constitutional scholar and practising attorney, John served in the Obama Administration. After his government service, he joined Prisma Health as an executive, leading collaborative, evidence-based efforts to promote health innovation, access, and equity in South Carolina’s largest private-sector employer. In this role, Simpkins facilitated community conversations throughout the Upstate on racial equity in healthcare, housing, and education.
John grew up and attended public schools in Lexington, started his legal career in Washington, D.C., and then returned to South Carolina as a faculty member and Associate Director of the Richard Riley Institute at Furman University, focusing on youth leadership, public school education practice and policy, and diversity programming for community and business leaders. He also was an assistant professor and director of diversity initiatives at the Charleston School of Law.
He received his AB from Harvard and a JD and LLM from Duke University School of Law. He is a Senior Lecturer at Duke Law School and a member of the Liberty Fellowship.
United States of America