Dumarsais Simeus
Encyclopedia
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
an-born and U.S. naturalized businessman from Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. Simeus returned to Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
to be a candidate in the 2006 presidential elections.
Early life
Siméus was born in Pont-Sondé in HaitiHaiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
's Artibonite Valley
Artibonite Valley
Artibonite Valley is a valley predominantly in Haiti, on the island of Hispaniola. The Artibonite River flows through the valley, with headwaters in the Dominican Republic as well....
, the eldest son of illiterate peasant rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
farmers. He grew up working the land in Haiti to feed himself and his 11 siblings. In 1961, his family sold some land so he could fly to the United States to pursue a college education at Florida A&M University
Florida A&M University
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, commonly known as Florida A&M or FAMU, is a historically black university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States, the state capital, and is one of eleven member institutions of the State University System of Florida...
. Siméus transferred to Howard University
Howard University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
in Washington, D.C., where he earned a degree in electrical engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
.
In 1970, he became a US citizen. In 1972, he earned an MBA from the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
Graduate School of Business.
.
Career
He worked his way up the corporate ladder. He was a financial analyst at Rockwell InternationalRockwell International
Rockwell International was a major American manufacturing conglomerate in the latter half of the 20th century, involved in aircraft, the space industry, both defense-oriented and commercial electronics, automotive and truck components, printing presses, valves and meters, and industrial automation....
and KB Home
KB Home
KB Home is a homebuilding company based in the United States, founded in 1957 as Kaufman & Broad in Detroit, Michigan. It was the first company to be traded on the NYSE as a home builder and is a Fortune 500 company...
, a director of Latin American Operations for Bendix
Bendix
- People :* Bendix Hallenstein - New Zealand businessman* Henry Bendix - fictional character from Wildstorm comics* John E. Bendix - American Civil War and New York Guard general* Max Bendix - American composer, conductor, violinist* Reinhard Bendix - sociologist...
, general manager of Hartz Pet Food, France, and vice president of International Business Development at Atari
Atari
Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...
.
He quickly rose in the corporate world, becoming president of Beatrice Food, Latin America;and eventually president and chief operating officer of TLC Beatrice International Food.
In 1984, Siméus started working for TLC Beatrice International Holdings Inc.
Beatrice Foods
Beatrice Foods Company was a major American food processing company. In 1987, its smaller international food operations were sold to Reginald Lewis, a corporate attorney creating TLC Beatrice International, after which the majority of its domestic brands and assets were acquired by Kohlberg,...
, the $2.1 billion, black-owned food processing and distribution company. He served as President and CEO for two years before leaving in 1992 to buy and run his own business.
In 1996, with $55 million financing, Siméus bought Portion-Trol Foods from Flagstar Corp in Mansfield, Texas
Mansfield, Texas
Mansfield is a city in Ellis, Johnson, and Tarrant counties in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 56,368.In 2009, CNN/Money Magazine rated Mansfield as one of the "Best Places to Live" in the United States, ranking 24th out of the top 100 places.-History:The first...
, and renamed it Simeus Foods International Inc. Siméus Foods, based south of Fort Worth
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
, manufactures value-added food products for national multi-chain restaurants and large institutions such as El Pollo Loco
El Pollo Loco
El Pollo Loco is a fast-food restaurant chain specializing in Mexican grilled chicken, headquartered in Costa Mesa, California. "El Pollo Loco" is Spanish for "The Crazy Chicken".Their main dish is pollo asado, a grilled marinated chicken...
, Denny's
Denny's
Denny's is a full-service coffee shop/family restaurant chain. It operates over 1,500 restaurants in the United States , Canada, Curaçao, Costa Rica, Honduras, Jamaica, Japan , Mexico, New Zealand, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.Denny's is known for always being...
, T.G.I. Friday's
T.G.I. Friday's
T.G.I. Friday's is an American restaurant chain focusing on casual dining. The company is a unit of the Carlson Companies. Its name is taken from the expression TGIF...
and Burger King
Burger King
Burger King, often abbreviated as BK, is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The company began in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant chain...
in the United States and Canada. Simeus Foods Intl. now generates $155 million a year.
In 1999, Siméus Siméus established Org. Sové Lavi www.sovelavi.org, a non-profit foundation to provide medical care, education and clothing to Haitians.
Between October 2004 and February 2005, he served on Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
Governor Jeb Bush
Jeb Bush
John Ellis "Jeb" Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd Governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is a prominent member of the Bush family: the second son of former President George H. W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush; the younger brother of former President George W...
's advisory board for Haiti. The group made a series of recommendations for Haïti's security, economic development and disaster preparedness.
A group of about 40 U.S.-based Haitian business and civic leaders have urged him to run for president.
Run for Haitian Presidency
After months of speculation, Simeus decided to contest the Haitian Presidency in August 2005. Simeus' political platform includes making it easier for companies to invest in Haiti, promoting jobs, and rooting out corruption by making government accountable. Simeus said, "I want to create a Haiti where people are proud to stay because there are opportunities." ..."I want a Haiti where there is access to capital for the average guy, for the poor guy who was born in a hut like I was born in." During his campaign he rans into a few challenges.His status as a dual national became a challenge. Simeus said that he still has Haitian citizenship despite taking the US Oath of Allegiance, which renounced all other citizenships. The Haïtian Electoral Board disagreed. Eventually this matter was taken to the Supreme Court of Haiti
Supreme Court of Haiti
The Supreme Court of Haiti is the highest court in the Haitian legal system. The Supreme Court building is located in Port-au-Prince.-Composition:...
which recently ruled that Simeus could place his name on the ballot, but he still faces election council challenges to his candidacy and a threat of prosecution alleging false candidacy claims on election papers. Article 135 states a presidential candidate must "be a native-born Haitian and never have renounced Haitian nationality" and have resided in the country for five consecutive years before the election.
Another challenge is his public acceptance. Simeus was essentially unknown in Haiti prior to 2004 and many viewed him as an outsider. At a campaign rally, he was cordially received in Solino, a crumbling and crime-plagued neighborhood of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince is the capital and largest city of the Caribbean nation of Haiti. The city's population was 704,776 as of the 2003 census, and was officially estimated to have reached 897,859 in 2009....
. But when his tour reached the Bel Air neighbourhood, a stronghold for supporters of ex-president Aristide, dozens of angry men and women rushed onto the streets, hurling rocks and chunks of concrete at Siméus's car, forcing him to flee.
On September 27, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on a 6-hour visit to Haiti, publicly and pointedly called on Haiti's interim government to hold "inclusive" elections. Rice reportedly pressed Prime Minister Gérard Latortue
Gérard Latortue
Gérard Latortue was the Prime Minister of Haïti from March 12, 2004 to June 9, 2006. He was an official in the United Nations for many years, and briefly served as foreign minister of Haïti during the short-lived 1988 administration of Leslie Manigat.In February 2004, the country suffered a coup...
for Siméus to be readmitted to the race. On October 11, the Supreme Court ruled in Siméus’ favor, ordering the CEP to put the Texan back on the ballot. A day after the ruling half of the members of the Supreme Court were forced into retirement by the orders of Gerard Latortue, and his justice minister. Simeus has seemingly thrown his support towards the front runner of the election, former President René Préval
René Préval
René Garcia Préval is a Haitian politician and agronomist who was the President of the Republic of Haiti from 14 May 2006 to 14 May 2011. He previously served as President from February 7, 1996, to February 7, 2001, and as Prime Minister from February 1991 to October 11, 1991.-Early life and...
.
Family
Simeus is married and a father of three. He has brought 40 relatives to the United States but his parents remain in HaitiHaiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
External links
Press releases
- Simeus Welcomes Dr. Rice, Calls for International Inquiry Into 'Abuse of Power' By Political Insiders to Control Ballot September 27, 2005
- Dumarsais Simeus Addresses Haïti - Haïtian-Born Reformer Offers Proof of Citizenship and Haïtian Nationality PRNewswire September 30, 2005
- Simeus Wins Ballot Fight in 'A Victory for Change in Haïti' PRNewswire September 30, 2005
- Simeus Applauds Kofi Annan and UN, Addresses Nation to Decry Prime Minister as a Threat to Free, Fair Elections in Haïti October 18, 2005
News articles
- Haïti's first investment bank to focus on projects for poor James Cox, USA TODAY, April 29, 2004
- Businessman returns to Haïti to run for president Danna Harman (The Christian Science Monitor), USA Today, August 17, 2005
- Wealthy Haïti Expatriate Plans to Run for President VOA News, August 19, 2005
- U.S. Businessman Joins Crowded Haïti Field, Alfred De Montesquiou, Guardian UnlimitedThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, September 16, 2005 - Businessman Appeals Decision Barring Run for Haïti's Presidency VOA News, September 25, 2005
- Texas businessman returns to Haïti for presidential run David Adams, St Petersburg Times, October 20, 2005
- Texas Businessman Seeks Haïtian Presidency Steve Quinn The Associated Press October 23, 2005
Interviews
- Ayiti "LE COIN DE CARL" Edition Speciale September 8, 2005