Biography
Simon has lived in Brighton since 1975, when he went to study law at Sussex University. Over the years his career has covered being a Perrier Award winning comic, broadcasting with his own shows on BBC Radios 4 and 5 and GLR, making documentaries on TV and radio and writing features and interviews for The Sunday Times Culture, Guardian and Observer, Daily Telegraph and (even) The Daily Mail.
He co-founded and currently runs a consultancy business, Diversity by Design, which supports organisations to truly diversify their senior staff. He is the chair of Hexagon Housing Association and also serves on the Board of Powerful Women.
He was a co-founder of one of the most successful lobby and campaign groups in recent times, the lesbian and gay equality organisation Stonewall. And he was also a co-founder of the Kaleidoscope Trust, which supports LGBT activists abroad.
He started and chaired the Economic Partnership in Brighton and Hove, leading the successful city bid in 1999/2000, and has served on the board of Brighton Dome and Festival, the Museum of London, Housing and Care 21. For six years he was chair of Sussex University’s governing council.
In 2013 he was awarded the OBE in the New Year Honours list for services to higher education and was made an honorary doctor of the University of Sussex for services to diversity and human rights.
He is married to Adam and they have no children or dogs.
Twitter: @DiversitybyD
