Suzanne P. Clark
- President and CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Suzanne P. 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 U.S. 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.
She is a vocal proponent for policies that enable businesses to innovate, invest, and grow and helps lead the fight against government proposals that undermine America’s economic strength and competitiveness. Under her leadership, the U.S. Chamber champions constructive solutions and builds coalitions around the issues most important to the business community. The U.S. Chamber’s work with leaders on both sides of the aisle helped deliver bipartisan passage of the most significant infrastructure investment in decades. The organization works closely with lawmakers to shape policy in some 300 issue areas, including workforce, legal reform, global trade, energy, and technology.
Clark spearheaded efforts to dramatically increase support for small businesses through the creation of CO—, the U.S. Chamber’s award-winning digital home for small business. When the pandemic hit, the U.S. 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.
In addition, Clark has helped drive the national conversation on issues central to managing, recovering from, and moving beyond the pandemic through the U.S. Chamber Foundation’s award-winning Path Forward program. In interviews with dozens of thought leaders and experts, Path Forward has reached tens of millions of viewers with practical information, insightful guidance, and forward-looking strategies.
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 public company boards for AGCO, a Fortune 500 global leader in the design, manufacture, and distribution of agricultural equipment, and TransUnion, a provider of global risk and credit information. She also serves on the board of The Economic Club of Washington, D.C.
Other awards and recognitions include So Others Might Eat (SOME) Humanitarian of the Year (2019), the National Association of Corporate Directors Directorship 100 honoree (2020), the Baldridge Foundation’s Award for Leadership Excellence (2021), Washingtonian magazine’s Most Powerful Women in Washington (2019 and 2021), Washingtonian magazine’s inaugural Most Influential List (2021), Forbes 50 Over 50 (2021), and The Fund for American Studies Business Leadership Award (2021).
Carrying her passion for business and entrepreneurship into the classroom, Clark was a 2021 Spring Fellow at American University’s Sine Institute of Policy & Politics, where she led 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.
