March 21, 2011

APA Appoints New Chief Operating Officer

CHICAGO — The American Planning Association (APA), a membership and education organization with more than 40,000 members in 85 countries, welcomes Ann Simms as its new Chief Operating Officer (COO). Simms comes to APA with more than 35 years of experience in the corporate industry, 25 of those years at Motorola, a Fortune 500 global communications company.

As COO, Simms is responsible for budgeting and finance, as well as overseeing the accounting, membership, customer service and IT departments. Simms also will work closely with APA's Chief Executive Officer W. Paul Farmer, FAICP, on both strategic initiatives that support products and services and in providing support to the Board of Directors, APA's volunteer governance board.

Simms replaces Charlotte McCaskill, who will retire in May 2011 after a 37-year career with APA.

"Ann is a great addition to APA's leadership team," said Farmer. "Her extensive financial and management experience will be a major asset to the organization and she brings a wealth of experience and skills to APA that will benefit our members."

Previously at Motorola, Simms held a number of senior management positions, including Senior Director for Controls, Compliance and Ethics; Senior Director for Finance for the Networks Supply Chain; and Assistant Corporate Controller.

Simms is a Certified Public Accountant. She earned her MBA from the University of Chicago and her bachelor's degree in Accounting from the University of Kansas.

Contact

Roberta Rewers, APA Public Affairs; 312-786-6395; rrewers@planning.org