KBHC Board of Directors

Pope M. Simmons
Board Chair of the Kristin Brooks Hope Center

Pope M. Simmons is the current Board Chair of the Kristin Brooks Hope Center. For the past 10 years he served as Sr. Vice President for Government Relations at the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare, a trade association that represented over 1100 community mental health centers (CMHCs). Because mental health and addictions treatment services are regulated at the state level, Pope effectively organized the National Council's advocacy to reflect not only the individual centers and their Directors, but that incorporated the advocacy of their Boards (comprised of elected officials, civic and religious leaders), the more than 350,000 professional and administrative staff employed, and the 4.5 million consumers served and their families. Pope co-chaired the Managed Care Working Group for the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities, a national coalition representing over 49 million Americans with disabilities, during proposed Medicaid reform in the 104th Congress as well as during the implementation of the consumer protections and enrollment standards in managed Medicaid pursuant to the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. He is the immediate past elected Chair of the Steering Committee of the Mental Health Liaison Group, a national coalition of organizations and associations with a focus on mental health services and funding. Pope also helped organize and continues to serve on the Board of the healthcare system of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd as well as the Association of Families with Cycle-Cell Disease. Pope Simmons holds a BA in History from the College of Charleston, SC, and an MA in Philosophy from the Vatican.