Terron Sims, II is a combat veteran, businessman, political leader, and a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He is the Executive Director of Military & Veterans Affairs for Merit (https://www.merits.com/reciprocity), Chairs the DNC’s Veterans & Military Families (VMF) Council, and previously served as Chief-of-Staff to Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. Terron has over a decade of experience in the Department of Defense (DoD), having served five years as an active duty Army officer and another eight years as a government contractor.  

From 2005 to 2013, Mr. Sims supported DoD as a government contractor. He supported Army G3/5/7 Current Operations Center; tasking MACOMs to support MNC-I, MNF-I, SOCCENT operations for its HQ, Arabian Peninsula, the Horn of Africa, and SW Asia, GTMO, JTFB, JTF-HOA, and various OCONUS and CONUS operations. Mr. Sims also supported the Assistant Chief of Staff of the Army for Installation Management (ACSIM), developing and managing the system that streamlines the Army’s installation requirements budget validation process.  He also led the team that developed DoD’s Sexual Assault Incident Database (DSAID).

From 2000 to 2005, Mr. Sims served on active duty in the US Army as a Field Artillery officer. While deployed in Iraq from 2003 to 2004, Mr. Sims established and mentored the government of Baghdad’s Tisa Nissan District, where he served as the primary liaison to the CPA, the UN, Baghdad City Hall, and Iraq’s federal government. His final Army assignment as the Deputy Chief-of-Training for the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) and Fort Polk was designing and leading pre-construction operations of a $29 Million dollar real-world fighting village.

Mr. Sims has served in political roles of increasing responsibility over the past decade. In 2008 and 2012, he was Director, Virginia VMF for Obama and served on the Defense and Veterans Policy Teams, where he wrote the Service Member Life Insurance policy. In 2010, Mr. Sims wrote the Democratic National Committee’s VMF candidates’ platform, which is used in federal campaigns nationwide. During Sec Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, Mr. Sims wrote her DoD and VA Intergovernmental Agency Policy. For the 2020 Biden campaign, Mr. Sims wrote five pieces of veterans policy, primarily in the areas of spousal and overall entrepreneurship and business. Mr. Sims wrote the Veterans Services and National Security Policy Platforms for the (UK) Labour Party and briefed them to the Shadow Defense Minister and her Cabinet.

Mr. Sims has published two novels, With Honor In Hand and Hands of Honor, and has written his third novel, For Hands to Honor, along with his Iraq memoirs, Baghdad Peace. He also writes regularly about veterans and military families and national security issues.