Simone Grapini-Goodman is a Marketing executive with a deep, versatile background – from Fortune 10 to startups and nonprofit organizations. She currently serves as Chief Marketing & Digital Officer at the American Diabetes Association, the largest global non-profit focused on preventing and curing diabetes and improving the lives of all people affected by diabetes. She leads Brand, Direct Response Fundraising and Partner Marketing, Communications, Digital, Professional Publications & Membership and Center for Information.

Simone has devoted her career to improving the health of Americans through access to quality health care. In her role prior to ADA, Simone served as Chief Marketing Officer for DiRx (direct+rx), an early stage digital pharmacy platform focused on generic medication affordability and accessibility – serving the underserved. Having joined at seed stage as employee #5, she launched the brand nationally, built the entire marketing and communications ecosystem and go-to-market strategy.

She began her career in health care by serving 18 years at UnitedHealth Group – at the health care services/delivery level, while at Optum, and on the benefits side, with UnitedHealthcare’s Medicaid business. 

Simone has also consulted for nonprofit causes, including the University of North Carolina’s Rapidly Emerging Antiviral Drug Discovery Initiative (READDI), and University and Industry Demonstration Partnership (UIDP) professional association. 

Simone has her MBA from University of Maryland and an undergraduate business degree from Texas A&M – Corpus Christi. She has also completed professional development courses at Yale, Duke and Wharton. Simone lives with her husband, two daughters and two dogs in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.