Simone Grapini-Goodman is a marketing executive with a deep, versatile background—from Fortune 10 and academia to nonprofit and early-stage organizations. Simone has devoted her career to improving the health of Americans through access to quality health care at the health care services/delivery level while at Optum (a pharmacy benefit manager and health care provider), and at the insurance benefits level with United Healthcare’s Medicaid business. She also served as vice president of Academic Strategic Partnerships while at Optum to curate the next generation of health care leaders and accelerate the translation of academic applied research to new products. 

Simone has also consulted for nonprofit causes, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Rapidly Emerging Antiviral Drug Discovery Initiative, and at the University and Industry Demonstration Partnership (UIDP) professional association. In her most recent role prior to the American Diabetes Association, Simone served as chief marketing officer for DiRx (direct+rx), an early-stage digital pharmacy platform focused on generic medication affordability and accessibility. Having joined at seed stage as the fifth employee, she launched the brand nationally and built the marketing and communications ecosystem and go-to-market strategy. 

Simone has her MBA from the University of Maryland and an undergraduate degree from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. She has studied in France and Ireland, and has completed professional development courses at Yale, Duke, and Wharton. Simone lives with her husband, two daughters, and (always) a dog in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.