Jayme Place Simmons serves as the Executive Director of the Bill and Crissy Haslam Foundation, which launched the Tennessee Tutoring Corps in the summer of 2020, connecting college students with K-6th graders in a statewide effort to counter the “COVID slide.”
Prior to joining the Foundation, Jayme began Tennessee’s Office of Evidence and Impact under the Lee Administration. The Office encourages budgeting practices based on evidence and greater use of outcome data across state government.
Jayme also served as the Policy Director and Special Assistant for Strategy for Governor Bill Haslam, where she worked on key education initiatives, including the Governor’s TN Together plan to address the state’s opioid epidemic. Prior to her role as Policy Director, she served as Chief of Staff for the Tennessee Department of Education under Commissioner Candice McQueen, and before that, was an education policy analyst for Governor Haslam.
Jayme earned her master’s degree in education policy from Vanderbilt University and a bachelor’s in policy from the College of William and Mary in Virginia. After graduating William and Mary, Jayme spent three years teaching high school math in Charlotte, North Carolina. She and her husband Barry have two toddler boys who keep them busy.