Mark Simmons is an American politician who was a member of the Oregon House of Representatives from 1997–2002 and served as the 62nd

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

of the

Oregon House of Representatives The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of 65,000. The House meets in the west wing of the ...

Early years

Simmons graduated from Elgin High School in 1975 and went straight to work for

Boise Cascade Boise Cascade Company (), which uses the trade name Boise Cascade, is a North American manufacturer of wood products and wholesale distributor of building materials, headquartered in Boise, Idaho. with sales over $7.9 billion in 2021, it is trad ...

. Before his election to the legislature, Simmons served as a board member of the Oregon Land Coalition.

Political career

Simmons was first elected to the State House in 1996. He served as Majority Whip and Chairman of the Rules, Elections, and Public Affairs Committee. In 2001, he was elected as the 62nd Speaker of the House, a position he held until 2003.

Later life

In 2002, while still Speaker of the House, Simmons was hired as director of public affairs for the Oregon Association of Nurserymen. In 2005, Simmons was appointed as the Oregon State Director for

USDA Rural Development USDA Rural Development (RD) is a mission area within the United States Department of Agriculture which runs programs intended to improve the economy and quality of life in rural parts of the United States. Rural Development has a loan portfolio o ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simmons, Mark Speakers of the Oregon House of Representatives Republican Party members of the Oregon House of Representatives Living people Year of birth missing (living people)