Greg Simon

Greg Simon is an American political aide who supported Vice Presidents Joe Biden and Al-Gore. His private sector work is concentrated in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and telecommunications sectors. Simon is credited with advancing key federal health care and telecommunications policies.[1]

Early Life and Education

Greg received his J.D. degree from the University of Washington School of Law in 1983 where he was a member of the Law Review and the Moot Court. He has a B.A. in history from the University of Arkansas.[1]

Career

Greg Simon was an aide to Vice President Al Gore, eventually working as his Chief Domestic Policy Advisor (‘93-’97) where he shepherded the 1996 Telecommunications Reform Act, crafted regulations for the biotech industry, and represented VP Gore on the National Economic Council.

Simon left the White House to found lobbying firm Simon Strategies. With his firm Simon lobbied for energy companies Enron and Southern Company, and telecom companies such as Sony, Netscape, Motorola, Global Crossing, AOL, and Cisco.[2][3][4] [5]Simon also lobbied for domain registrar Network Solutions.[6]While maintaining his lobbying practice, Simon was a bundler and top advisor for Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign.[7][3][8]

Greg Simon served as Executive Director for both the Biden Cancer Initiative (‘17-’19) and the White House Cancer Moonshot Task Force (2016). He also served on the Health and Human Services review team for the Obama-Biden transition in 2008.[9]

After working on the Obama-Biden transition team, Simon joined Pfizer as a Senior Vice President in charge of policy and patient advocacy.[1] He also advised the company’s CEO on Affordable Care Act lobbying, and directed Pfizer PAC’s political spending.[10][11] Pfizer spent tens of millions of dollars on lobbying during Simon’s tenure and had a prominent seat at the table during ACA negotiations.[12] The year Simon joined Pfizer, the company paid the largest ever health care fraud settlement in DOJ’s history (totaling $2.3 billion) for fraudulent marketing of a drug.[13]

In 2007 Simon co-founded medical research think tank FasterCures with Michael Milken.[14] Milken received a pardon from President Trump in 2020 after being convicted of illegal trading that collapsed investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert.[15] The Milken Institute has been a leading proponent of Trump’s “opportunity zones” policy — tax breaks aimed at encouraging investment and real estate purchase in economically distressed areas.[15] In at least one instance, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin directly intervened to help Milken profit from an opportunity zone designation.[16] After resigning as Trump’s FDA Commissioner, Scott Gottlieb quickly joined the boards of FasterCures and Pfizer.[17][18] In addition to Gottlieb, FasterCure’s board includes executives from Citi, Google, Deloitte, Pfizer, and the Heritage Foundation.[19] 

In the same year that he co-founded FasterCures, he also co-founded the Melanoma Research Alliance with Leon Black, Milken’s former Drexel colleague and current CEO of vulture fund Apollo Global Management. [20]

In Joe Biden’s 2020 U.S Presidential Campaign, Simon represented Biden at a surrogate fundraiser in February 2020.[21]

References
  1. Boston, 677 Huntington Avenue; Ma 02115 +1495-1000 (2019-01-17). "Greg Simon". The Forum at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  2. Hearn, Ted. "Ex-Gore Aide Simon Will Lobby for Enron". Multichannel. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  3. "5 Lobbyists, as Friends, Help Gore's Rise". Los Angeles Times. 2000-02-20. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  4. Judis, John (2001-12-19). "K Street Gore". The American Prospect. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  5. "Enron Corporation And Arthur Andersen". www.washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  6. "Boston.com / Politics / Campaign 2000 / News". cache.boston.com. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  7. Schluter, William E. (2017-02-24). Soft Corruption: How Unethical Conduct Undermines Good Government and What To Do About It. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-8619-9.
  8. Tumulty, Karen (2000-11-08). "Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  9. "Greg Simon Named Executive Director for the White House's Cancer Moonshot Task Force". Friends of Cancer Research. 2016-03-18. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  10. "Pfizer CEO Got Paid More for Healthcare-Reform Lobbying; Private Jet Was an Extra". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  11. "Pfizer PAC 2009-2010 Report" (PDF). Pfizer.com.
  12. NW, The Center for Responsive Politics 1300 L. St; Washington, Suite 200; info, DC 20005 telelphone857-0044. "Pfizer Inc Profile: Lobbying". OpenSecrets. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  13. "Justice Department Announces Largest Health Care Fraud Settlement in Its History". www.justice.gov. 2009-09-02. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  14. "Greg Simon". 2020 Summit. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  15. Merle, Renae (2020-02-21). "In decades before pardon, Michael Milken launched 'Davos' competitor and showered millions on charities". The Washington Post.
  16. Lipton, Eric; Drucker, Jesse (2019-10-26). "Symbol of '80s Greed Stands to Profit From Trump Tax Break for Poor Areas". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  17. "Former FDA chief Scott Gottlieb joins FasterCures Advisory Board". milkeninstitute.org. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  18. "Scott Gottlieb Elected to Pfizer's Board of Directors". Pfizer.com. June 27, 2019.
  19. "FasterCures | Milken Institute". milkeninstitute.org. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  20. Caldwell, Patrick. "Bill Clinton gave a six-figure speech to a controversial vulture fund as his wife ran for president". Mother Jones. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  21. "Campaign Wire: 2020 Election - WSJ.com". WSJ. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
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