Simpkins arrived in London from her native Australia in 1982, intending to stay in the UK for six-to-nine months, and “has been here ever since”.
She started working on the reception desk at an advertising agency and worked her way in to the much more interesting print management department.
Her resulting career in the industry has been across the board, spanning graphic design, print and predominantly paper.
She was production director at report and accounts specialist CGI London before becoming part of the launch team for Virgin Group print management start-up Communic8, which launched in 2000.
She subsequently worked for Cousin, Calington and Robert Horne before joining creative paper specialist GF Smith nearly 12-and-a-half years ago.
Simpkins told Printweek: “I will never take for granted how lucky I am for a girl that left school when I was 15 and with no university education, I managed to carve myself a career in one of the biggest cities in the world.
“It has been always and will be about the people. I am a very lucky to have met many aspiring women and men who pushed me to believe I could succeed.”
A cancer survivor, Simpkins works with Dimbleby Cancer Care and is also a trustee of the Commonwealth Girls Education Fund and a Freeman of the City of London.
She has been a speaker at many events.
Simpkins has made lifelong friends through her career and said she would remain in the UK, having now spent most of her life here.
“I am forever grateful for the industry; it has been a rollercoaster with ups and downs, and I wish everyone all the success in the world. A special thank you to Printweek, as you have been one of my supporters and I am honoured to have had that accolade.”
GF Smith threw a surprise farewell party for her last week, attended by many industry connections past and present.
Former GF Smith managing director John Haslam said: “Megan has been a beacon in the industry for a long time, and everyone came along to wish her well.
“She has been a true ambassador for GF Smith and the creative paper world, and will be missed tremendously.”
Simpkins quipped that following her ‘farewell tour’ she would be available for TED talks and Bar Mitzvahs, and “to tell her stories in her very own Bridget Jones way of making it in the industry”.
She officially retires on 31 March.
