Adele Simmons

Vice Chair of Chicago Metropolis 2020 and President of the Global Philanthropy Partnership

Adele Simmons is Vice Chair of Chicago Metropolis 2020, a senior advisor to the World Economic Forum, and President of the Global Philanthropy Partnership. Mrs. Simmons was President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation between 1989 and 1999, overseeing grants of over $1.5 billion. The foundation's international programs focus on the environment, population, international peace and security, understanding inequality within and among nations and climate change.

Since leaving the MacArthur Foundation, Mrs. Simmons has been spending part of her time strengthening the infrastructure of global philanthropy through her work with the Chicago Global Donors Network, the World Economic Forum, the Global Fund for Women, the Synergos Institute, the International Network on Strategic Philanthropy, the World Bank, and the Global Equity Initiative.

Mrs. Simmons is Chair of the Board of the Fair Labor Association, a member of the board of the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, the Field Museum, the Mexican Fine Arts Museum, Environmental Defense, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Synergos Institute, and Marsh and McLennan. She serves on the advisory committee of Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initative, UNRISK and the World Bank Institute. Mrs. Simmons is a founder of Global Chicago.

Prior to joining the MacArthur Foundation, Mrs. Simmons served as President of Hampshire College. She served on presidential commissions on world hunger and the environment, and was a member of the Commission on Global Governance and the UN High Level Advisory Board on Sustainable Development.