Inducted
2002
Degrees
- B.S. Chemical Engineering, West Virginia University, 1960
President, Technology, Inc. —Fort Smith, Arizona
Born in Beckley to Rodney L. and Violet Simms, Rodney Simms grew up in Camden-on-Gauley, a small town in Webster County. He attended WVU, graduating in 1960. During his last two years at WVU, he worked part time for Dr. Kent in nuclear engineering.
Simms spent the first 17 years of his career at Staley in Decatur, Illinois, starting in research engineering, then moving to plant engineering (where he totally modernized major portions of the Decatur plant) and production management. He finished by designing and constructing the first computer-controlled corn wet-milling plant in the world.
In 1978, Simms became a partner in Deci Corporation, a consulting engineering firm specializing in automation and process control. He is recognized as a leading expert in food and grain plant automation. He helped found the Food and Pharmaceutical Division of the Instrument Society of America and served several years as its director.
His reputation for implementing new technology in manufacturing plants led to an appointment as vice president of process and equipment technology for RJR Nabisco in 1984, where his group was responsible for all new manufacturing technology development and implementation for Nabisco plants worldwide.
Following the leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco, Simms became president of Graseby STI, a firm building environmental monitoring systems. After three years, he formed his own consulting company, Technology, Inc., based in Ft. Smith, Arizona. He currently is managing the design and construction of ten dry-milling fuel ethanol plants in conjunction with a Kansas firm. He consults on the development of grains for the processing industries, and actively develops new applications for membrane separation technology.
Simms lives his wife of 46 years, Daisy. They have two daughters and two grandchildren. When he’s not working, Simms plays golf and takes care of their 16-acre horse farm. He recently retired from basketball refereeing but continues to work high school football. He is also a certified trainer of Creative Learning techniques and often donates his time to conduct training courses for school teachers and student groups.