Dear Pursuit community,
On behalf of the Pursuit Board of Directors and the CEO Search Committee, we are excited to share a major milestone in Pursuit’s journey: Nick Simmons will be joining Pursuit as our next CEO.
This is a defining moment for our organization and the culmination of a rigorous, months-long national search. Nick’s appointment comes as Pursuit confronts one of the most pressing challenges of our time: access to high quality jobs. We have been solving for job solutions since day one -but in an economy being reshaped by technology and AI, the urgency, complexity, and opportunity have never been greater.
Earlier this year, our co-founder and current CEO, Jukay Hsu, announced his intention to transition out of the CEO role after more than a decade of leading the organization. He set a clear priority: to find a leader who could pair big-picture vision with strong execution, and who could work collaboratively with our Board, staff, Fellows, Builders and partners to lead Pursuit into its next chapter.
Working with top-tier executive search firm Russell Reynolds Associates, our Search Committee—composed of myself, Board members Katy Knight, Jukay, and special advisor MC Lader—reviewed more than 300+ profiles from across the country. Candidates came from social impact, government, and private-sector backgrounds.
The committee led a rigorous selection process that included multiple rounds, in-depth interviews, a practical exercise, and conversations with numerous Board members.
From the beginning, Nick distinguished himself as a leader and exciting candidate. Even among a highly competitive group of strong finalists, Nick remained a standout candidate throughout the process.
Nick brings a rare combination of skills, experience, and passion that align with Pursuit’s mission and our future solving the jobs problem:
Proven leadership in achieving results, innovation and meaningful social impact at the systems-level.
A strong track record in securing and or directing major funding into social impact programs and partnering with philanthropy, corporations, government and local community stakeholders to get results.
A deep understanding of the workforce development ecosystem and deep appreciation of AI’s potential to transform workforce training, economic mobility, and operational innovation.
Systems-level thinking and execution—thriving in ambiguity and leading through change
Extensive networks in employer communities to accelerate partnerships and strategy.
Passion for Pursuit’s mission and belief in the transformative power of our programs
His career spans large-scale initiatives at the federal, state, and local levels. He helped build the Connecticut Office of Workforce Strategy and served as lead workforce and education policy advisor to Governor Ned Lamont. As Senior Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Education, he helped lead the national effort to reopen schools during COVID-19 for the Biden Administration. He has directed hundreds of millions of state and federal dollars into quality education and workforce development programs, and forged major partnerships with philanthropy, businesses, and educators to address public challenges.
Nick began his career as a founding teacher and later acting school principal at one of the first middle schools for Success Academy Charter Schools in Harlem, New York. He has consistently demonstrated the ability to align stakeholders, navigate complexity, and deliver meaningful results—and we are excited to see him bring that same leadership to Pursuit.
His full bio is shared below.
This past year has seen Pursuit validated as a first mover in AI worker reskilling. We are leading the field building software. And we are just getting started.
We are operating in a rapidly evolving labor market where AI is reshaping industries, altering entry-level jobs, and creating both opportunities and challenges for workers. Solving for jobs—now and in the future—is one of the most pressing and complex systems challenges of our time.
Nick’s leadership will be pivotal as Pursuit continues to innovate and meet this moment with creativity, commitment, and community.
Nick will officially join Pursuit on September 2nd. His early priorities will include:
Continue building on-the-job and AI strategies the leadership has developed in 2025
Building relationships with Builders, Fellows, staff, Board, partners, funders, and supporters
Continuing to monitor and adapt to labor market shifts
Advancing our workforce and software innovation work
You will have the chance to meet Nick in a few weeks at the Bash, our annual Gala, and at other important events and meetings in the months ahead.
We offer a sincere thank you to Jukay. No words can do justice to his leadership. He has brought a level of care, thoughtfulness, and insight to workforce, the tech industry, and most importantly, to our community.
As he transitions, Jukay will continue to serve on the Board, focusing on long-term strategy, board development, and external partnerships. As a Co-Founder, his commitment to Pursuit’s mission remains as strong as ever and will continue to support the team and their success in whatever capacity they need. He has adjusted his transition plan and timeline to accommodate Pursuit’s needs and will continue to work with Nick and the team moving forward.
On behalf of the Board, I also want to thank our Search Committee, our leadership team, and the exceptional candidates who participated in this process. Most importantly, thank you to our Fellows, alumni, partners, and supporters for believing in our mission and making Pursuit’s work possible.
Please join us in welcoming Nick Simmons to Pursuit. We are confident he will lead us into a bold, impactful next chapter.
Best,
Jen Hensley
Nick Simmons has spent over a decade of leadership at the intersection of government, philanthropy and business to achieve large-scale social impact in the fields of workforce development, education and economic development.
In Connecticut, Nick most recently served as Deputy Chief of Staff to Governor Ned Lamont and as a lead workforce development and education advisor, overseeing core initiatives, policies and investments for the Governor. In his role, Nick helped lead an overhaul of the state’s workforce system—helping build a new state Office of Workforce Strategy and was appointed by the Governor to lead the Governor’s Workforce Cabinet, a weekly gathering of the state’s workforce development leaders to set strategy and drive execution. He supported the creation and deployment of tens of millions of state dollars into quality workforce programming and collaborated with leaders of some of the state’s largest businesses to help address their workforce needs.
In K-12 education, Nick created and led the Everybody Learns Initiative, a groundbreaking $64M partnership with top telecommunication companies such as Comcast, Altice, Cox and others to deploy over 100,000 laptops and internet connections to students in Connecticut. It made Connecticut the state the first in the nation to close the K–12 digital divide. In 2021, Nick led creation of the LEAP program, a nationally celebrated home-visiting absenteeism intervention program that led to a measurable increase in attendance rates. Nick also helped direct over $200 million of state investment into economic development projects to strengthen downtown urban centers and enhance innovation at state universities.
In 2021, Nick was tapped by the Biden Administration to serve as a Senior Advisor to U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and was asked to help lead the effort to reopen schools during COVID-19, for 55 million students across the country and to support the investment of over $160 billion in federal funds into critical programs to close learning gaps, expand summer and after-school programs, increase high school workforce training opportunities, and build quality tutoring and mentorship programs.
Through his work Nick has partnered with business leaders, philanthropy, workforce development organizations, colleges, universities, and local community organizations to achieve large scale social impact results.
Nick began his career as a founding teacher and ultimately acting principal of one of the first middle schools for the Success Academy Charter School network in Harlem, New York. He holds a Master of Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor’s Degree from Yale University.
