DENISE ROBINSON SIMMS
Assistant Director of Special Events
National Museum of African American History & Culture

Denise Robinson Simms joined the staff of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) to create the Office of Special Events in February 2016, just seven months before the historic Grand Opening events of the Smithsonian Institution’s 19th Museum. After managing, coordinating, and assisting the NMAAHC Grand Opening Team with producing all of the celebrations and Museum Dedication, Denise began managing the daily operations of the Museum’s first Office of Special Events. The Museum has hosted hundreds of events, public programs, and tours  and has welcomed over 6 million visitors since opening on September 24, 2016. 

Denise has spent the majority of her career at the Smithsonian, working for 10 years in the Office of Special Events at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) as Special Events Coordinator and then Manager of Special Events. Before her time at NMAI, she worked for a short stint as Special Events Coordinator at the National Museum of American History (NMAH) preceded by several internship appointments within the Museum. Prior to the Smithsonian, Denise worked in her hometown at the Baltimore Museum of Art as the Board Liaison from 2004-2005. In 2004 Denise earned her Master’s degree in Museum Studies from The George Washington University and a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Arts and Art History from Hood College in Frederick, Maryland in 2002.