2026 Impact 50 Honoree: Drew Simmons

DREW SIMMONS
Manager & Partner
Foundations

WORD TO LIVE BY: “No Assholes: Don’t be one, don’t put up with them.”
BY THE NUMBER: 1.2 million. The number of tickets sold for Noah Kahan’s “Great Divide Tour” in North America.

Manager Drew Simmons is having a banner year guiding and growing the ascending careers of two superstars in Noah Kahan and Chappell Roan. This includes the brilliantly strategized and executed roll-out of Kahan’s new No. 1 album, The Great Divide, debuting the single during the Grammys and a global stadium and arena tour.

For Roan, who Simmons calls a “force and a real visionary,” he cites her Grammy-nominated single “The Subway” and her acclaimed “Visions of Damsels and Other Dangerous Things” pop-up shows at unique venues, which this year toured Oceania and South America.

Innovative approaches to tours, ticketing and roll-outs aside, what really makes Simmons special are the words he lives by: “No Assholes: Don’t be one, don’t put up with them.”

To wit, a good chunk of Simmons’ time is spent working on projects for social good via his clients. “I’m proud of the growth of Noah’s Mental Health non-profit The Busyhead Project,” he says, “which is in its third year and has raised over $6.5 million. We also launched Chappell Roan’s non-profit, The Midwest Princess Project, focused on supporting Trans youth and the LGBTQ+ community.”

Additional non a-hole pursuits include Simmons being super leaned into the morass of ticketing, working with Kahan and Ticketmaster in ensuring a record-level of tickets went to fans and not the secondary market using fan verification and face-value price caps. He also worked on the passing of Vermont bill H.512, a multi-year effort led by NITO, Vermont Arts Council and Randy Nichols, with support from Kahan resulting in “the strongest ticket resale protections in the U.S.”

He says he’s working “on the next chapter for Chappell Roan,” which her millions of fans will be chuffed to know. And a new music discovery that’s got him excited is a Foundations client Slayyyter, managed by Kenny Consor. “Her record is incredible and the momentum coming out of Coachella this year has been amazing.”