June 17, 2009 – Business administration professor, lecturer and accomplished businessman Paul Simmonds, Ph.D., has been selected to spearhead the local AARP volunteer team. Simmonds, originally from St. Thomas but now a St. Croix resident, will immediately assume the organization's top volunteer position as the V.I. state president, according to a press release from Denyce Singleton, state director of AARP Virgin Islands.
He brings a wealth of strategic planning, business, management and teaching experience to the local office. His experience, background and skills will help staff and volunteers identify social issues, develop solutions and campaigns, recruit volunteers, educate the public and advocate among legislators, Government House and other public opinion leaders to help improve the quality of life for all Virgin Islanders.
As a lifelong educator, Simmonds continues to teach and currently serves as an 'Outside Examiner for the Diploma' in Business Administration and as a lecturer in the DBA, MBA and Executive MBA programs at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica.
Coming to AARP after having spent over 26 years in the secondary academic environment, he has taught business classes on the undergraduate, masters and doctoral levels at the UVI, University College of the Cayman Islands, University of Central Florida, University of the West Indies, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Florida State University, Old Dominion University, Florida State University, Florida A&M University, National University of Singapore, Rutgers University, Widener University and the Harrisburg Area Community College.
In addition to his teaching career, he has also held top-level executive positions including CEO with TRW Turbine Overhaul Services Pte. Ltd, in the Republic of Singapore; financial and general manager of TWR Inc. Airfoil Overhaul, SBU in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; cost-accounting supervisor for Monsanto Company Inc. in Akron, Ohio; and distribution accountant with Scott Paper Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Simmonds is also an extensively published author of numerous articles on business, management, organizational structure, strategic decision making, multi-national business, tactic knowledge and decision making, international diversification and corporate performance as well as knowledge transfer from the academic world to practical management.
Throughout his career, he has received honors that include Most Valuable Mentor, Who's Who in Black Corporate America, and Alpha Sigma Lambda National Honor Society. He holds professional affiliations with the Academy of International Business, Strategic Management Society, Institute of Management Accountants, Southern Management Association and the United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
Simmonds serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Business in Developing Nations and is a former board member and president of Our Town Frederiksted.
AARP Virgin Islands is pleased that Dr. Paul Simmonds has decided to share his wealth of expertise, skills and knowledge by accepting the position.
