Julia Simms, APR
President/Founder

Besides being j. simms agency's walking encyclopedia on all things San Diego, Julia Simms is a fourth-generation Coronadan. She grew up exploring the tidepools in Point Loma, the nooks and crannies of Balboa Park and the hidden entrances of the Hotel Del Coronado.

Despite her misspent youth as an island rat, Julia brings more than 25 years of experience in the public relations and marketing field to the work of j. simms agency. She’s seen more economic cycles than anyone would care to admit and her breadth of experience has earned her the ear of many a mover and shaker in the San Diego business scene. From the trenches to the boardrooms, Julia has watched San Diego grow and brings her hard-earned knowledge to bear for all of the agency’s clients.

Having earned the prestigious APR designation from the Public Relations Society of America, Julia has won more awards from the Building Industry Association of San Diego County for Best Public Relations Campaign than any other person or company in the area. She was awarded the Eva Irving Community Service Award from PRSA in 2003 and the Building Industry Association dubbed her The Gary Campbell Industry Professional of the Year in 1999.

Born and raised on the island, Julia attended Coronado schools and San Diego State University before graduating from the University of Phoenix in San Diego. She claims to have never lived outside the county (except for a two-month stint at age 17 of which the details will remain hidden forever).

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Michael Simms
Senior VP, New Technologies

Mike Simms grew up overseas but eventually settled in San Diego. Actually, four generations of his family now call San Diego home. His grandparents owned a five-and-dime store in Encinitas in the 1960s and Mike visited them often to roam the candy and toy aisles and make big eyes at the staff. His favorite spots in the county are Moonlight Beach in the North County and the Air & Space Museum in Balboa Park. Oh, and Old Town too. His long-term avocation is to find the best carne asada taco on either side of the border before the rest of his hair falls out.

Mike holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from the former U.S. International University’s San Diego campus and previously worked in software development for Mitchell International and Globalink, Inc. before joining j. simms agency.

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Ray Davies
Vice President, Strategic Initiatives

Even though Ray Davies hails from the snow belt, his 14 years of sales and marketing experience made him an extremely attractive addition to the j. simms team. With a start at Cleveland-based International Management Group, Ray negotiated sponsorships to private sector, sports industry and media partners for IMG properties and personalities. His impressive client list included Callaway Golf, Marconi, Coca-Cola, Goodyear, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Ping, Visa, Ikon, Xerox, General Motors, Visteon, Penske Logistics and Enterprise Rent-a-Car.

He has also led the Strategic Partnership/Corporate Sponsorship Division of a major non-profit in Ohio that enabled the organization to shift its focus from fundraising to ROI-based marketing platforms, which achieved $750,000 in new revenue within 6 months. He negotiated agreements with American Express, Ernst & Young, Cadillac, Smith Barney, KeyBank, National City Bank, Labatt USA, Coca-Cola, Westfield Insurance, First Energy and Medical Mutual. With a new-found love of text-message marketing, Ray has practically written the book on sponsorship activation.

Ray has specialized in strategic partnerships and advertising alliances across multiple industry segments from coast to coast but he chose San Diego to raise his family. And now having welcomed baby No. 4 to the family, he has proved his expertise in that arena as well.

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Bonnie Vieira
Director of Client Services

Hailing from foggy San Francisco, Bonnie came to j. simms agency by way of San Diego State University on a mission to fulfill a life-long dream of beach living. The resident expert in Pacific Beach, her prized possession is a red beach cruiser and she can out do any Fodor’s guide in naming the best beach eateries and hangouts up and down San Diego’s coast.

A devout SDSU Aztecs fan, she observes every game day religiously and claims to personally know the school’s mascot, Monty Montezuma. And even though the song says she should have left her heart in San Francisco, we are quite certain San Diego has stolen it away.

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Jennie Rodrigues
Director of Mobile Marketing

Born and raised in NorCal, Jennie considers herself to be a San Diegan since she's been here since 1981.  While attending school, she worked part time with a growing company called Ticketmaster and became enthralled with the excitement of the business and access to shows. During her 20-year stint with Ticketmaster, Jennie experienced the ever-changing entertainment industry in a myriad of positions including management of the client services, operations and marketing departments. From university stadiums and huge amphitheaters to hole-in-the-wall venues, Jennie knows each and every place for live entertainment throughout San Diego and has the hook-ups to get the best seats anywhere.

Live entertainment was the center of her life, until her three children arrived. Today her kids, music and live entertainment still rule her life as she has taken on the additional role as a roadie for her talented children including her daughter Aja Alycean.

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Paul O'Sullivan
Political and International Communications

Our very own International Man of Mystery, Paul O'Sullivan has been chased by angry hippos in Kenya, attended university in Granada, Spain, camped under the stars in Alaska, and "touched" tomb walls in Giza, Egypt (we're not sure we want to know about that last one). He also has studied poisonous snakes in Costa Rica -- which is just plain wierd if you ask us.

But even after all of that, Paul decided while studying International Relations at the University of San Diego, that the most interesting country to get to know was our very own neighbor to the south, Mexico. Embracing the spirit of our multinational community in San Diego, Paul has worked tirelessly to promote cross-border communication and commerce for 20 years.

Using all of his multicultural expertise and extensive contacts on both sides of the border, Paul opens up true cross-border markets for clients of j. simms agency and it's sister company O'Sullivan Internacional. We still don't know what he did to tick off those hippos, but we're glad he's a member of our team.

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Suzanne was born in San Diego but moved to the Dallas/Fort Worth area at age 11. Determined to return to California, she enrolled at San Diego State University and four years later, walked away with a degree in Communications, Public Relations. Suzanne spent most of her later California life trying out various places in the county but finally found her perfect place in Pacific Beach. She enjoys keeping up with all of her college friends as well as her high school friends from Texas. She is glad to be back to her original home of San Diego and loves spending time at the beach.

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Jonathan is a native Californian who fully embraces the lifestyle with daily surf sessions and a steady diet of sunshine. Before becoming a member of the j. simms agency, Jonathan operated a freelance design business for a select group of clientele. Jonathan designs for print and web and produces what he likes to call “true works of art.” The latter of that being debatable, he does put his entire creative muster into the projects he’s entrusted with and makes it his goal to help build the client’s brand and business using the power of creative communications. Like the rest of the team at j. simms, Jon wears more than one hat and has recently taken over the responsibilities of promoting clients via the growing world of social media.

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George Dowden
On-Line Marketing Specialist

Having vowed to never to live more than 20 minutes from the ocean, George arrived in San Diego circa 1979 from Newport Beach. He graduated with distinction from SDSU (yet the meaning of this honor had to be explained to him) and remains a loyal alumnus of the black and red. When not churning out dazzling Web site designs for j. simms or rooting around in the dark places behind every site, he serves on the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District Tech Preparation Advisory Panel in the areas of Graphic and Web design.

His favorite stomping grounds are Old Town, Anza Borrego desert, Coronado and pretty much any Mexican restaurant in between. And in all sincerity, he believes a Siberian Husky is the closest thing on earth to perfection. George is a j.simms agency affiliate.

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