Full Name
Suzanne Clark
Job Title
President and Chief Executive Officer
Company (Please input the full name of your organization)
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Speaker Bio
Suzanne Clark is president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a director on two corporate boards, a former business owner, and an entrepreneur at heart.
With a global perspective and a fierce commitment to free enterprise, Clark’s experience in the private sector deeply informs her leadership of the U.S. Chamber—the world’s largest business organization representing employers of every size and sector in Washington, D.C., across the country, and around the globe.
Clark has led a multiyear effort to strengthen the Chamber’s well-known influence, advocacy, and impact, while modernizing its work and attracting new members from the fastest-growing and most innovative sectors of the U.S. economy. These efforts to invest in the Chamber’s future proved prescient when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, enabling the organization to quickly pivot to new ways of working and successfully advocate for businesses in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
Clark has also helped drive the national conversation on issues central to managing and recovering from the pandemic through the U.S. Chamber Foundation’s Path Forward program. In interviews with dozens of thought leaders and experts such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, former CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield, Bill and Melinda Gates, Carlyle Group Founder David Rubenstein, and former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, Path Forward has reached an audience of millions of viewers with practical information, insightful guidance, and forward-looking strategies.
In an era of divided government and partisan gridlock, the U.S. Chamber has been a bold leader in championing bipartisan solutions and building coalitions around the issues most important to the business community, including liability reform, workforce development, corporate governance, business-led climate solutions, and programs and policies to address inequality of opportunity.
Clark spearheaded efforts to dramatically increase support for small businesses through the creation of CO—, the Chamber’s award-winning digital home for small business. When the pandemic hit, the Chamber launched a massive mobilization to save America’s small businesses by proposing key policies included in the CARES Act, lobbying for and securing replenishment of the Paycheck Protection Program, producing dozens of practical guides used by millions of businesses, and creating the #SaveSmallBusiness grant program.
Clark’s commitment to free enterprise and understanding of the challenges facing America’s businesses stem from her experience creating and running a growing company. Prior to rejoining the U.S. Chamber in 2014, she acquired and led a prominent financial information boutique—Potomac Research Group. Before that, Clark was president of the National Journal Group (NJG), a premier provider of information, news, and analysis for Washington’s political and policy communities. Through 2010, Clark led NJG through a period of rapid digital transformation, resulting in record-level profits and multiple journalism awards.
Earlier in her career, Clark served in multiple leadership positions at the U.S. Chamber, including chief operating officer, and as chief of staff at a major transportation association.
Clark serves on the boards of two public companies and several nonprofit organizations. At AGCO, a Fortune 500 global leader in the design, manufacture, and distribution of agricultural equipment, she chairs the Compensation Committee and is a member of the Succession Committee. At TransUnion, a provider of global risk and credit information, she serves on the Audit and Cybersecurity committees.
Additionally, Clark serves on the board of The Economic Club of Washington, D.C., and So Others Might Eat (SOME), which helps the poor and homeless in the nation’s capital. She was named SOME’s Humanitarian of the Year in 2019. Other awards and recognition include Washingtonian magazine’s Most Powerful Women in Washington (2019), the National Association of Corporate Directors Directorship 100 honorees (2020), the Baldridge Foundation’s Award for Leadership Excellence (2021), and Washingtonian magazine’s inaugural Most Influential List (2021).
Carrying her passion for business and entrepreneurship into the classroom, Clark is a 2021 Spring Fellow at American University’s Sine Institute of Policy & Politics, where she leads a lecture series on the role of private sector job creation.
Clark earned a B.A., magna cum laude, and an M.B.A. from Georgetown University. She lives in Virginia with her husband and their daughter.
With a global perspective and a fierce commitment to free enterprise, Clark’s experience in the private sector deeply informs her leadership of the U.S. Chamber—the world’s largest business organization representing employers of every size and sector in Washington, D.C., across the country, and around the globe.
Clark has led a multiyear effort to strengthen the Chamber’s well-known influence, advocacy, and impact, while modernizing its work and attracting new members from the fastest-growing and most innovative sectors of the U.S. economy. These efforts to invest in the Chamber’s future proved prescient when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, enabling the organization to quickly pivot to new ways of working and successfully advocate for businesses in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
Clark has also helped drive the national conversation on issues central to managing and recovering from the pandemic through the U.S. Chamber Foundation’s Path Forward program. In interviews with dozens of thought leaders and experts such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, former CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield, Bill and Melinda Gates, Carlyle Group Founder David Rubenstein, and former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, Path Forward has reached an audience of millions of viewers with practical information, insightful guidance, and forward-looking strategies.
In an era of divided government and partisan gridlock, the U.S. Chamber has been a bold leader in championing bipartisan solutions and building coalitions around the issues most important to the business community, including liability reform, workforce development, corporate governance, business-led climate solutions, and programs and policies to address inequality of opportunity.
Clark spearheaded efforts to dramatically increase support for small businesses through the creation of CO—, the Chamber’s award-winning digital home for small business. When the pandemic hit, the Chamber launched a massive mobilization to save America’s small businesses by proposing key policies included in the CARES Act, lobbying for and securing replenishment of the Paycheck Protection Program, producing dozens of practical guides used by millions of businesses, and creating the #SaveSmallBusiness grant program.
Clark’s commitment to free enterprise and understanding of the challenges facing America’s businesses stem from her experience creating and running a growing company. Prior to rejoining the U.S. Chamber in 2014, she acquired and led a prominent financial information boutique—Potomac Research Group. Before that, Clark was president of the National Journal Group (NJG), a premier provider of information, news, and analysis for Washington’s political and policy communities. Through 2010, Clark led NJG through a period of rapid digital transformation, resulting in record-level profits and multiple journalism awards.
Earlier in her career, Clark served in multiple leadership positions at the U.S. Chamber, including chief operating officer, and as chief of staff at a major transportation association.
Clark serves on the boards of two public companies and several nonprofit organizations. At AGCO, a Fortune 500 global leader in the design, manufacture, and distribution of agricultural equipment, she chairs the Compensation Committee and is a member of the Succession Committee. At TransUnion, a provider of global risk and credit information, she serves on the Audit and Cybersecurity committees.
Additionally, Clark serves on the board of The Economic Club of Washington, D.C., and So Others Might Eat (SOME), which helps the poor and homeless in the nation’s capital. She was named SOME’s Humanitarian of the Year in 2019. Other awards and recognition include Washingtonian magazine’s Most Powerful Women in Washington (2019), the National Association of Corporate Directors Directorship 100 honorees (2020), the Baldridge Foundation’s Award for Leadership Excellence (2021), and Washingtonian magazine’s inaugural Most Influential List (2021).
Carrying her passion for business and entrepreneurship into the classroom, Clark is a 2021 Spring Fellow at American University’s Sine Institute of Policy & Politics, where she leads a lecture series on the role of private sector job creation.
Clark earned a B.A., magna cum laude, and an M.B.A. from Georgetown University. She lives in Virginia with her husband and their daughter.
