Simon is a newly minted girl dad, avid Reuben enthusiast, and household culinarian. Long before joining the sales team at Cafe Imports, he grew up in Western Mass., where he spent his formative years apple-picking, collecting rocks, playing Ultimate Frisbee, and training for his future authority at bar cribbage tournaments. Living in Burlington, VT, he graduated from the University of Vermont, where he explored both the local craft beer scene and the Green Mountains.
After dabbling in jobs across retail, disaster-relief management, and long-term community recovery, Simon relocated to Corvallis, Oregon, where he served in AmeriCorps.
In Corvallis, Simon learned that if you drink enough coffee as a customer, you can eventually become a full-time employee. That's how he entered the specialty coffee world: by being a curious regular at his local cafe. Like light passing through a prism, working in coffee opened him up not only to a better understanding of coffee in its final form, but also to the intricacies of the supply chain and its various stakeholders. Through that coffee family, he fell in love with his community and the industry before leaving for Minnesota and joining Cafe Imports.
These days, he still enjoys apple-picking and cribbage, though he had to leave his rock collection behind. You'll most likely find him in his garden, searching for the best new sandwich spot and natural wine bar, bowling in the townie league (did you know he bowled a perfect game?), taking candids with his Fujifilm X100VI, or tackling home improvement projects. Just don't get him started talking about his flooring renovation.