- Oregon Public Welfare Department, 1964-1969.
- Legislative Fiscal Office, Analyst, 1969-1984.
- Department of General Services, Director, 1987-1992.
- Department of Administrative Services, Director, 1992-1993.
- Oregon Lottery, Director, 1993-1995.
About Dan Simmons
Raised in Pendleton, Oregon, Dan Simmons considers himself the beneficiary of a great public school system.
He graduated from Portland State University with a general studies degree due to his “wide range of interests.” Taking a government job in the spirit of “asking what you could do for your country” invoked by President John F. Kennedy Simmons went to work for Oregon’s Public Welfare Department.
In 1969, Dan started in the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Office as an analyst; a post he held for the next fifteen years. Over his tenure he learned the inner workings of government legislative and administrative processes.
Gov. Atiyeh appointed Simmons to be the Director of the then Oregon Department of General Services. In that position he oversaw the construction of the Capitol Mall as we know it today.
By 1993, he became the Director of the Oregon Lottery at a time it had grown from a small “boutique agency” into one that brought in about “$750 million dollar per biennium” and had “outstripped its infrastructure.” Overhauling every aspect of the agency, Simmons helped put the agency on solid ground.
Reflecting on why government is important Dan Simmons concluded: “I do know that every Oregonian from the time they wake up until the time they go to bed is touched by some function of government.”
– Interview recorded March 22, 2019