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Person

Liz Simons

Education:

University of California Berkeley and Stanford University
Family:

Husband: Mark Heising

Father: James Simons

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Liz Simons is the daughter of billionaire retired hedge fund manager and Democratic political donor James Simons and the wife of Mark Heising, the founder of Medley Partners and chair of the Environmental Defense Fund.

Simons has promoted a number of left-of-center education policies. Simons also founded Stretch to Kindergarten, an early childhood education program. Simons is the chair of the Heising-Simons Foundation, an organization she formed with her husband in 2007 that supports a variety of left-of-center environmentalist, education, and social policy causes. 1

Early Life

Liz Simons was born to Barbara and James Simons. Simons attended the University of California, Berkeley where she earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism. She also earned a master’s in education from Stanford University. 2

Career

Simons previously worked in English as a Second Language (ESL) and Spanish-bilingual classrooms as a teacher. She also founded Stretch to Kindergarten, an early childhood education program focused on kindergarten readiness. 3

Simons sits on the advisory boards of a number of organizations, including the Marshall Project, Math for America, Too Small to Fail, Stanford’s Graduate School of Education. Simons is also a board member at the Learning Policy Institute, a left-leaning education policy organization, and at the Foundation for a Just Society, a pro-LGBT grantmaking foundation created by Simons’ sibling, Audrey Cappell. 4

In 2007, Simons and her husband Mark Heising co-founded the Heising-Simons Foundation, an organization that supports a variety of left-leaning causes. 5 Simons sits as the chair of the Foundation’s board, while her husband and daughter, Caitlin Heising, sit as vice chairs. 6 The Foundation has awarded more than $618 million since its founding, awarding more than $127 million in grants in 2020 alone. 7

In 2016, Simons and her husband joined the Giving Pledge, promising to donate a majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes before their deaths. 8

Political Activity

Simons supports a variety of left-of-center political candidates and causes. In 2018, Simons and her husband hosted a luncheon benefit at their home in Atherton, California for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). Featuring former President Barack Obama, U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), and then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the event had ticket prices starting at $10,000 per person and reaching as high as $237,300. 9 The event raised about $2.5 million for the DCCC. 10

During the 2018 elections, Simons supported Florida’s Amendment 4, a ballot measure that reinstated voting privileges for convicted felons. Simons joined the children and wife of billionaire left-progressive donor David Bonderman in supporting the out-of-state ballot measure. Simons and her father, James Simons, gave a combined $1 million to support the amendment. 11

In 2020, Simons supported George Gascon, an anti-death penalty left-wing Democratic candidate for Los Angeles County District Attorney. 12 Simons, who previously supported various left-of-center criminal justice and anti-death penalty efforts, contributed $585,000 to Gascon’s campaign. 13 14

Simons has supported a number of Democratic candidates and committees during recent elections. In 2020, Simons gave $200,000 to the House Majority PAC and also contributed $10,000 each to the Mississippi Democratic Party, the Democratic Party of New Mexico, and the Utah State Democratic Committee. 15 In 2019, she donated over $100,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC). During the 2016 elections, Simons donated $50,000 to the Hillary Clinton-aligned Hillary Action Fund. 16 Since 2016, Simons has contributed over $1 million to the House Majority PAC. 17

According to data from the Federal Election Commission (FEC), Simons and her husband, Mark Heising, contributed $350,000 to the Biden Victory Fund Super PAC  in 2023. 18 In September 2023, the couple held a private fundraiser for president Joe Biden at their Bay Area home in Atherton, CA, for which tickets cost between $5,000 and $100,000. 19 According to Open Secrets, their foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, provided over $5.5 million in grants towards supporting campaigns for Democratic candidates and causes in fiscal year 2020. 20

Personal Life

Simons is the daughter of James Simons, a retired hedge fund billionaire, philanthropist, and left-wing mega-donor. Simons co-founded Renaissance Technologies, a quantitative trading investment management company. Simons was in her early thirties when her father and stepmother founded the Simons Foundation in 1994. Simons gave each of his children a few thousand dollars to give to philanthropies of their choice through the foundation, and Simons used her funds to support educational charities and the Nature Conservancy. 21

Simons is married to Mark Heising, the founder of private market investment firm Medley Partners. She met Heising in 1979 while they were both studying at the University of California,  . 22 Before founding Medley Partners, Heising was the founder of a company that designed and licensed cryptographic integrated circuits. Heising sits on the board of Renaissance Technologies, his father-in-law’s company, and is also the chair of the left-of-center Environmental Defense Fund. 23

Simons’ daughter, Caitlin Heising, is the vice chair of the Heising-Simons Foundation. She is a founding member of the Maverick Collective, a left-of-center women’s-interests organization. 24

References

  1. “Liz Simons.” Heising-Simons Foundation. Accessed March 29, 2021. https://www.hsfoundation.org/person/liz-simons/.
  2. “Liz Simons.” Math for America. Accessed March 29, 2021. https://www.mathforamerica.org/about/board/liz-simons.
  3. “Liz Simons.” Math for America. Accessed March 29, 2021. https://www.mathforamerica.org/about/board/liz-simons.
  4. “Liz Simons.” Math for America. Accessed March 29, 2021. https://www.mathforamerica.org/about/board/liz-simons.
  5. “Liz Simons.” Heising-Simons Foundation. Accessed March 29, 2021. https://www.hsfoundation.org/person/liz-simons/.
  6. “Liz Simons.” Math for America. Accessed March 29, 2021. https://www.mathforamerica.org/about/board/liz-simons.
  7. “About.” Heising-Simons Foundation. Accessed March 29, 2021. https://www.hsfoundation.org/about/.
  8. “Liz Simons and Mark Heising.” Giving Pledge. Accessed March 29, 2021. https://givingpledge.org/Pledger.aspx?id=289.
  9. Chin, Nathan. “UC Berkeley Alumna Liz Simons to Host Barack Obama for Fundraiser.” The Daily Californian, June 29, 2018. https://www.dailycal.org/2018/06/29/uc-berkeley-alumna-liz-simons-host-former-president-barack-obama-democratic-benefit-luncheon/.
  10. Schleifer, Theodore. “Barack Obama Is Coming Back to Silicon Valley to Raise Millions for the Democratic Party.” Vox. Vox, October 31, 2019. https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/10/30/20928042/barack-obama-dnc-fundraiser-silicon-valley.
  11. Essley Whyte, Liz. “How Billionaires from Other States Are Shaping This Year’s Ballot Measures.” Center for Public Integrity, October 18, 2018. https://publicintegrity.org/politics/state-politics/how-billionaires-from-other-states-are-shaping-this-years-ballot-measures/.
  12. Albaladejo, Angelika. “Progressives Take On District Attorney in L.A. County Election.” The American Prospect, March 2, 2020. https://prospect.org/power/progressives-take-on-district-attorney-in-l-a-election/.
  13. Queally, James, and Maloy Moore. “Police Unions, Justice Reformers Battle for Dollars in Bitter L.A. County D.A. Race.” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, February 25, 2020. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-02-24/political-donations-jackie-lacey-george-gascon-los-angeles-district-attorney.
  14. Albaladejo, Angelika. “Progressives Take On District Attorney in L.A. County Election.” The American Prospect, March 2, 2020. https://prospect.org/power/progressives-take-on-district-attorney-in-l-a-election/.
  15. “Elizabeth Simons – Browse Individual Contributions.” FEC.gov. Accessed March 29, 2021. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Liz%2BSimons&two_year_transaction_period=2022&contributor_state=CA.
  16. “Elizabeth Simons – Browse Individual Contributions.” FEC.gov. Accessed March 29, 2021. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Liz%2BSimons&contributor_employer=stretch&two_year_transaction_period=2016&contributor_state=CA.
  17. “Elizabeth Simons – Browse Individual Contributions.” FEC.gov. Accessed March 29, 2021. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?committee_id=C00495028&contributor_name=Liz%2BSimons&contributor_employer=stretch&two_year_transaction_period=2022&contributor_state=CA.
  18. “Individual Contributions.” Federal Election Commission, Accessed March 5, 2024. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?committee_id=C00703975&committee_id=C00744946&contributor_name=elizabeth+simons&contributor_name=mark+heising&two_year_transaction_period=2024
  19. Regimbal, Alec. “Biden’s private Bay Area fundraiser reportedly held at $33M Atherton home.” SFGate, September 27, 2023. https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/biden-private-fundraiser-held-at-33m-atherton-home-18392225.php
  20. “Heising-Simons Foundation: Recipients.” Open Secrets, Accessed March 5, 2024. https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/heising-simons-foundation/recipients?id=D000068814
  21. Savchuk, Katia. “Two Generations Of Givers: How The Simons Family Passed On The Philanthropy Gene.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, October 5, 2016. https://www.forbes.com/sites/katiasavchuk/2016/10/05/two-generations-of-givers-how-the-simons-family-passed-on-the-philanthropy-gene/?sh=14ce588d3701.
  22. “About.” Heising-Simons Foundation. Accessed March 29, 2021. https://www.hsfoundation.org/about/.
  23. “Our Team.” Medley. Accessed March 29, 2021. https://medleyp.com/our-team/.
  24. “Caitlin Heising.” Human Rights Watch. Accessed March 29, 2021. https://www.hrw.org/about/people/caitlin-heising.
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