Paul Simons was born in Wales and started his working career by joining the Merchant Navy (Britain) before eventually finding his way to Sydney (Australia) where he settled and married. Simons changed the course of his life with a decision to join the Woolworths retailing group as a Trainee Manager in 1954. A decision that would eventually see him rise to Director of Woolworths in 1972 and in 1987, he became the Chairman of the Woolworths Board. Considered a giant in the Australian retail and business world, he guided Woolworths into becoming the supermarket in Australia - culminating in the company being successfully publicly floated in 1995. Griffith University made Simons a Doctor of the University in 1995 for his four decades of outstanding leadership and innovation in the retail sector.