David Simms
Links:
Managing Partner and Founder | Talanton
Bio:
David Simms is Managing Partner and Founder of Talanton, a Kingdom-impact investment firm. He focuses on opportunities to create jobs, bring hope, and transform lives for people living in poverty in the developing world, with a special focus on East Africa. Talanton mobilizes purpose-driven and generally tax-deductible investment capital through a unique model into a pooled Kingdom impact fund where the investments generate scalable, sustainable and transformational impact by being invested in growth-stage companies creating good jobs in the developing world. Investment returns then flow back into the donor-investors’ donor advised fund, family foundation, or source of origin thereby preserving and growing the donor’s capital for future giving or other investing.
Prior to founding Talanton, David served as a Managing Director at Impact Foundation. Previously he served as president of Opportunity U.S., a global microfinance organization serving 12 million clients. He has chaired the U.S., Global, and MicroEnsure boards over decades of involvement with Opportunity—from when it served fewer than 1,000 families.
David’s career spans executive roles in financial services, management consulting, government, and nonprofits. He has served as a Partner with Bridgespan, S.E.V.P. at MBNA America, CEO of the American Red Cross Washington/Baltimore Blood Services Region, and was a White House Fellow. David started his career at Bain.
He holds an MBA and a JD from Harvard and has earned two bachelor’s degrees in economics and applied science from the University of Pennsylvania (summa cum laude).
Life:
David and Kim celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary in October. They live in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and have two wonderful adult sons, Stephen and Ryan.
Christians know God cares deeply about His children who are trapped in poverty. The Bible has more than 300 verses on the topic of poverty and social justice. Jesus quoted these words from Isaiah 61:1-2 at the start of His earthly ministry.