Lutheran North News

Meet a Crusader: Dr. Simone Marie Cummings

Simone was named Most Likely to Succeed in high school, and she took that charge to heart. She is now the Dean of the George Herbert Walker School of Business and Technology at Webster University, managing a budget of $38 million. She is responsible for all business programs at all Webster University campuses in the U.S. and internationally. She looks forward to traveling anywhere she has never been before. Up next: China.

Dr. Cummings is presently the Dean of the George Herbert Walker School of Business and Technology at Webster University. She manages a budget of $38 million with responsibility for all business programs at the home campus along with three satellite campuses in St. Louis, metro campuses throughout the U.S., and ten international campuses. She balances these responsibilities with being a wife, mother and daughter.
 
After graduating from Lutheran North, Dr. Cummings received a full academic scholarship from Washington University. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration in 1988, a Master’s Degree in Health Administration (MHA) in 1991 from Washington University School of Medicine, and a Ph.D. in Health Policy and Management in 1999 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
 
Prior to getting her doctorate, Dr. Cummings held positions at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Regional Hospital, as well as Columbia Hospital for Women in Washington, D.C. She also taught at Simmons College in Boston and Washington University in St. Louis. She has served as a healthcare researcher and as a healthcare consultant. She began her career at Webster University in 2013 as an associate professor and became the MHA Program Director in 2014. She was Associate Dean in 2015 and appointed Dean of the Business School in 2017.
 
Dr. Cummings feels that juggling her professional career and her time with family and friends might be her greatest challenge. She takes great pride in the fact that the Walker School of Business had its accreditation reaffirmed for a full ten-year period in 2018.
 
Dr. Cummings also serves on seven different professional and community boards in the greater St. Louis area. Simone gives significant credit for her success to the strong academic foundation she received during her days at Lutheran North.
Back