Matthew R Simmons

Matthew R. Simmons was the Founder of the Ocean Energy Institute (OEI) based in Rockland, Maine. OEI’s focus is the commercialization of various aspects of energy from our oceans and the acquisition of advanced technology companies that will broaden this effort.

Simmons was also former chairman of Simmons & Company International, a specialized energy investment banking firm, which he founded in 1974 and retired from in 2010. At the time of his retirement in June 2010, the firm had completed approximately 785 investment banking projects for its worldwide energy clients at a combined dollar value in excess of $140 billion.

Mr. Simmons was raised in Kaysville, Utah. He graduated cum laude from the University of Utah and received an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School. He served on the faculty of Harvard Business School as a Research Associate for two years and was a Doctoral Candidate.

Mr. Simmons began a small investment bank/advisory firm in Boston. Among his early clients were several subsea service companies. By 1973, almost all of his clients were oil service companies. Following the 1973 Oil Shock, Simmons decided to create a Houston-based firm to concentrate on providing highest quality investment banking advice to the worldwide oil service industry. Over time, the specialization expanded into investment banking covering all aspects of the global energy industry.

In 2007, Mr. Simmons founded the Ocean Energy Institute in Mid-Coast Maine. OEI’s goal is to help supplant the world's dwindling supply of high quality fossil fuels with energy from our oceans.

Simmons served on The University of Texas' M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Foundation Board of Visitors (Houston) and was a Trustee of the Bermuda Institute for Ocean Sciences. In addition, he was past Chairman of the National Ocean Industry Association. Mr. Simmons is a past President of the Harvard Business School Alumni Association and a former member of the Visiting Committee of Harvard Business School. He is a member of the National Petroleum Council, Council on Foreign Relations and The Atlantic Council of the United States. Mr. Simmons is a Trustee of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, The Island Institute and Farnsworth Art Museum in Maine.

Mr. Simmons' book Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy has been listed on the Wall Street Journal's best-seller list. He also published numerous energy papers for industry journals and was a frequent speaker at government forums, energy symposiums and in boardrooms of many leading energy companies around the world.

Mr. Simmons passed away on August 8, 2010.