Lilly Simmering

Lilly Simmering served as Deputy County Executive Officer for the County of Orange for nine years. She joined the County in 2015 as the Deputy Chief Operations Officer and spent one year as the Assistant Director for the Health Care Agency.

Prior to the County of Orange, Lilly worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, DC as a Compliance Officer overseeing multi-billion-dollar commodities such as Blue Diamond Almonds and California Raisins. She then concluded her career with the federal government as the Acting Chief of Staff for the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. Most of Lilly’s career in the Foreign Agricultural Service was devoted to advancing the U.S. trade and international relations strategy for U.S. agricultural and food exports in sub-Saharan Africa and the U.S.’s largest trading partner, Canada. During her time with the federal government, she saw one of her compliance cases heard and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, sent Secretary Tom Vilsack overseas on two international visits, and supported multiple U.S. Ambassadors and Undersecretaries on international trade and relations efforts.

In 2012, she assumed the role of Director, Strategic Financial Policy for Boeing Capital Corporation in Seattle, Washington working on aircraft finance regulations and international trade treaties and policies. Finally, in 2014 she was appointed by the King County Executive Officer to lead the development of King County’s local food economy and increase access to healthy foods for disadvantaged communities.

Lilly and her family departed Seattle, Washington in July 2015 for Orange County. She is married to Robert, who is a Senior Principal with Amazon FreeVee TV, and has three wonderful children – Felicity, Heidi, and Parker.

Lilly holds two Bachelor of Arts from Pepperdine University – Public Relations and Political Science and a Juris Doctorate from Western State University, College of Law. She is a member of the Washington DC Bar Association.