The Board of Directors of the Camden Conference has announced that it will dedicate the upcoming Conference, The Challenges of Asia, to honor the memory of Matthew R. Simmons. Matt was the keynote speaker of the 15th Camden Conference in 2002: The Politics of Energy and Water. His talk was titled Nightmares and Dreams About World Energy Crises. He was a long-standing member of the Camden Conference Advisory Council and had always been a generous benefactor in support of the mission of the organization.

Matt founded Simmons & Company International, a Houston-based energy investment bank, in 1974. It eventually expanded to London, Aberdeen, and Dubai. More recently, Matt founded the Maine-based Ocean Energy Institute, a non-profit research organization to promote clean, sustainable energy production from off-shore wind and ocean forces.

Matt Simmons left an enduring mark on Maine, especially in the MidCoast. His vision and backing enabled the restoration of the Strand Theater in Rockland. The Strand has had a tremendously positive impact on the lives of many people who are fortunate to live or visit in the MidCoast.

Matt was a creative, humor-filled extrovert with great integrity. He had a deep value for education, and, in that vein, the Camden Conference has established an annual scholarship for a student to attend the Conference in Matt’s honor. The recipient of the 2011 Matthew R. Simmons Scholarship is Mary P. Lynch, a public policy major at the University College at Rockland.

The Camden Conference is a nonprofit, non-partisan educational organization whose mission is to foster informed discourse on world affairs through year-round community events, public and student engagement, and an annual weekend Conference featuring distinguished speakers focusing on a central theme related to U.S. foreign affairs. For more information, please visit www.camdenconference.org or call (207) 236-1034.