Regent Emerita Christine Simmons

Christine Simmons is the Founder of consulting firm Alis Volat Propriis, LLC, where she advises businesses at every scale on operational excellence, strategic planning, business development, representation initiatives, and more.

Previously, she served as Chief Operating Officer at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science (The Oscars), the first Woman and Black person to hold the position. Simmons was responsible for the day-to-day management and enhancement of the Academy’s internal organization and infrastructure, focusing on a number of key initiatives including the organization’s strategic and 5-year business plans, organizational restructure, career progression realignment, representation and inclusion, sustainability and much, much more. She also created the first-ever, Office of Representation, Inclusion, and Equity which drove the creation of the Best Picture Inclusion Standards.

Prior to that, she served as the President and Chief Operations Officer of the Los Angeles Sparks and was an Executive Vice President with Magic Johnson Enterprises, where she would evaluate investment opportunities and was responsible for business development. With over two decades of leadership experience in creating strategic alliances, leading business development and driving corporate initiatives, she has worked with many Fortune 500 corporations and multi-million dollar companies including Disney and NBCUniversal.
 
A proud UCLA Bruin, Ms. Simmons is a past president of the UCLA Alumni Association and has served as an advisory board member to UCLA Life Sciences, the UCLA Foundation,  and the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

She served as the Vice President of the Alumni Associations of the University of California (AAUC) from 2019-2020.