Mr. Simpkins also has served in a variety of positions in civil society, allowing him to help shape or implement U.S. policy on Africa, including two versions of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).  Such positions include Policy Director for the Corporate Council on Africa, where he developed policy positions for an association of more than 200 U.S. companies doing business in Africa.   

A journalist who has worked in national and local radio since 1977, Mr. Simpkins has written for national and international magazines and newspapers, including the Christian Science Monitor, the Washington Times, Jane’s Terrorism and Security Monitor, the Nairobi (Kenya) Law Monthly and The Guardian (Nigeria).  He has written and edited several books and two newsletters on Angola. He managed coverage and reported from the White House, the State Department and Capitol Hill for the Sheridan Broadcasting Network and also managed national and international news coverage for the network.  From 2009-2011, Mr. Simpkins wrote the blog Africa Rising 2010 (later Africa Rising 21st Century).

Since 1987, Mr. Simpkins has been involved in foreign advocacy projects. In recent years, hehas designed and managed multi-level democratization, trade and capacity-building programs in Africa, beginning in 1992, with the International Republican Institute, the Institute for Democratic Strategies,the Foundation for Democracy in Africa and the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation for whom he hosted a series of webinars.  He has observed and reported on the election processes in Kenya, South Africa, Liberia and Guinea.

Mr. Simpkins also conducted training on accessing AGOA and helped develop public-private partnerships to promote trade and commercial development in Nigeria, Senegal, Mali and Benin.  He helped to establish the African Democracy Network, an organization of more than 200 African democrats from 31 nations in 1994, and the AGOA Civil Society Network, a coalition of African NGOs concerned with the equitable implementation of AGOA.  He more recently helped to create the Western Hemisphere African Diaspora Network, following a conference funded by the African Union, and organized the U.S. Civil Society Coalition for African Trade and Investment.  He managed eight of the first 11 AGOA Civil Society Forums in the United States, Mauritius and Kenya.

As a public speaker, Mr. Simpkins has given presentations on political and economic topics at the U.S. Foreign Service Institute, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the American Countertrade Association, the Heritage Foundation and the African Studies Departments at the University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University and the University of California at Los Angeles. The Voice of America, the British Broadcasting Corporation and WorldNet’s “Africa Journal” program also have interviewed him on Africa issues.

He received his Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from George Washington University and his Master of Business Administration from the Keller Graduate School of Management.