Kate Simpson

Kate is Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Academic Travel Abroad and a business leader with over three decades of experience in the fields of international education and educational travel. After stints in public relations and working on the Hill for Senator Harry Reid, Kate began her career at Academic Travel Abroad, Inc (ATA) in 1988 as China Program Manager and is now a proud owner of the business with her two partners. Kate graduated from Yale with a degree in East Asian Studies and pursued a post-graduate fellowship in Chinese Literature at Taiwan National University before settling in Washington, D.C. In 2008, Kate completed a three-year executive education program for owners and presidents at Harvard Business School. In 2010, Kate helped found the Fund for Education Abroad, a charitable organization that awards scholarships to U.S. undergraduates with high financial need. Kate now serves as Trustee Emerita and is a member of the Finance Committee. Kate has served on the Board and leadership committees for the NTA (National Tourism Association) and was awarded NTA’s Woman of Vision title in the fall of 2019. Kate currently serves on the Yale President’s Council on International Activities and is an active member of a local Harvard Business School Forum. As the daughter of an American diplomat, Kate spent most of her youth in France, where she was born. Kate has also lived and studied in Australia, Algeria, Ireland and Taiwan.

international education, mindfulness, yoga, leadership, cooking, baking

A stint outside one's one country should be included in every student's education--preferably no later than high school, but for now, at the very least, by the time a student graduates with a university degree. This applies everywhere but I am particularly interested in how much the United States' educational system needs this now and has for many years.