The Honorable Brandon L. Simmons (Houston, Texas)
Regent Brandon L. Simmons was appointed to the Texas Southern University (TSU) Board of Regents by Texas Governor Greg Abbott in February of 2023 and unanimously confirmed by the Texas Senate in May of 2023. He has served as the Twenty-Third Chairman of TSU’s Board of Regents since October 2023.
Regent Simmons is an experienced board member and executive and recognized leader in board governance. He has served on numerous corporate boards and in executive leadership for early and growth stage companies in the energy and technology sectors. Earlier in his career, Regent Simmons served in the corporate practice of Hogan Lovells counseling technology companies and investors on transactions and corporate governance.
In addition, Regent Simmons has served in multiple civic leadership roles. He devotes significant energy to nonprofit board service for organizations that advance human flourishing, supports entrepreneurship and education initiatives, and hosts events that connect young people with inspiring business role models. In July of 2023, Regent Simmons established an endowment at TSU to support initiatives focused on innovation and economic opportunity.
Regent Simmons earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Berkeley and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Stanford Law School. Following college, he was awarded the John W. Gardner Fellowship, a joint honor of Stanford University and the University of California. Following law school, he served as a law clerk for Chief Judge J.L. Edmondson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Regent Simmons has been a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization where he served as a member of Black YPO’s executive committee and twice served as a forum moderator.
Regent Simmons is a fifth-generation Texan and third-generation Houstonian. His father was raised in Fifth Ward, where his grandfather was a Deacon at Olivet Missionary Baptist Church. Through Regent Simmons’ decades-long economic empowerment efforts, he honors the Simmons family’s generational journey: labor in east Texas fields and pine forests in the 19th century, westward migration from Houston to San Francisco via military service and classroom teaching in the 20th century, and return from Silicon Valley to Texas soil in the 21st century via entrepreneurship.
Term: February 6, 2023 – February 1, 2029