Neil H. Simon is a former U.S. diplomat and advised the European Union on public diplomacy during the first Trump Administration. 

He is a principal of government affairs at Porter Wright. He has held public diplomacy leadership roles for the U.S. government and international organizations. His writing for the CPD Blog does not express the views of his employer.

Neil H. Simon started his career in journalism and still keeps the value of storytelling at the heart of his work. Whether digging a car out of a ditch while exposing the reality of women laborers in Mexico or squishing in the trunk of a hatchback to usher reporters to observe fraudulent election practices in Central Asia, he’s as comfortable in the field as he is in a boardroom. Neil has advised U.S. Senators and Members of Parliament across 57 countries and directed communications for a large company and government agencies. His policy work has resulted in state and federal laws that increase transparency in the fields of energy, improved port and homeland security, and electoral governance. He is also an award-winning documentary filmmaker, having produced the first film featuring survivors from an FBI-run World War II Japanese Internment Camp, as well as other productions about the rise of women in politics, the power of bipartisanship, the late New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, and municipal smoking bans.