Lauren B. Simonds, MSW, is a member of the NAMI Board of Directors since 2021, elected to fill the seat from the NAMI Executive Directors Council, and has been the Executive Director of NAMI Washington since 2014.
Lauren first became involved with NAMI by applying for the Executive Director position at NAMI Washington in Spring of 2014. She had recently lost a close friend who died by suicide and felt she could use her experience and background as an organizational development specialist and previous nonprofit experience to take NAMI Washington and NAMI's programs and services to the next level in the state. In 2019, NAMI Washington was awarded NSO of the year.
Having worked at Rosehedge/Multifaith Wortk, NARAL Pro-choice WA and National Council of Jewish Women, Lauren has more than 30 years of experience working with non-profit organizations and has worked as a nonprofit Executive Director for 20 of those years.
She earned her B.A. in English at Boston University and MSW at University of Washington.