The Honorable Charles E. Cobb and the Honorable Sue McCourt Cobb
Biography of Charles Cobb
Ambassador Charles Cobb was the US ambassador to Iceland during the George H. W. Bush administration. As ambassador to Iceland, Cobb orchestrated a reversal with Iceland on the United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) position of expanding antisubmarine warfare and military presence in Iceland. Before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the US government sought to expand its antisubmarine and military presence in Iceland. As a result of the fall of the USSR and Russia’s decreased submarine presence in the Atlantic, Cobb’s responsibility was to convince the Icelandic government that the United States and NATO should substantially reduce their military presence.
Before serving as an ambassador, Ambassador Cobb served as under secretary and assistant secretary at the US Department of Commerce during the Ronald Reagan administration. As the US assistant secretary of commerce for trade development, Cobb represented the United States in difficult trade negotiations with Japan on the country’s discrimination against US semiconductors. He also represented the United States against the European Union (EU) on unfair subsidies to Airbus and the EU’s low pricing of airplanes in competition with The Boeing Company. As under secretary of commerce for travel and tourism, Cobb successfully encouraged the Reagan administration and the US Congress to expand the VISA waiver program to increase tourism to the United States. He also led the effort for US travel and tourism executives to be part of the US Foreign Commercial Service.
In the 1950s, Ambassador Cobb served as an officer in the US Navy. Florida Governor Jeb Bush appointed Cobb as chair of Florida Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and Gateway Florida, which was responsible for Florida’s international trade agenda. He created the Charles E. Cobb Award for Initiative and Success in Trade Development with the US Department of State to award $10,000 annually to the career ambassador who best leads US trade policy.
Ambassador Cobb is the CEO and senior managing director of Cobb Partners, Ltd., an investment firm. He was the CEO or COO of several companies and has served on their boards and other publicly-traded corporations (Arvida, Penn Central, Walt Disney, LNR Property, WCI Communities, Ameritas, Pan Am Corporation, CLC of America, and Southeast Banking) and many private corporate boards (Florida Savings, Kirkwood, Durango, Telluride, Tubac, and Observer Media Group). Cobb also serves on the University of Miami Board of Trustees as chair, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Eisenhower Fellowships, Council of American Ambassadors, Miami Heart Research Institute, Plymouth Congregational Church Foundation, and Cobb Family Foundation. Other civic boards and memberships include the American Academy of Diplomacy, The American-Scandinavian Foundation, Council on Foreign Relations, Urban Land Institute, Orange Bowl Committee, and Council for Education Change.
Ambassador Cobb received the Order of the Falcon Grand Cross Star from the Nation of Iceland—Iceland’s highest honor to a non-Icelandic citizen—The Florida Council of 100 Governor’s Award, the National Conference for Community and Justice Silver Medallion Award, the South Florida Achievement of the Decade Award, the Junior Achievement Hall of Fame, the United Way Tocqueville Award, the Harvard Business Club of South Florida Business Statesman of the Year, the Chief Executive Officer Annual Award for the Hotel and Real Estate Industry, an Honorary Doctorate from Barry University, and the Liberty Bell Award for Florida Higher Education. He was also a member of the 1960 US Olympic Team as the alternate in the 110m high hurdles.
Ambassador Cobb has been married since 1959 to Ambassador Sue McCourt Cobb, former US ambassador to Jamaica and secretary of state of Florida.
Biography of Sue McCourt Cobb
Ambassador Sue McCourt Cobb served as the United States ambassador to Jamaica from 2001 to 2005. From 2002 to 2008, she was a counselor at the US Department of State's Leadership and Management School. She served as the co-chair of mandatory seminars for all newly designated US ambassadors. The Department of State annually awards the Sue M. Cobb Award for Exemplary Diplomatic Service to a Senate-confirmed ambassador who is selected in worldwide competition as the year’s most outstanding non-career US ambassador. She has received numerous awards, including national honors from Iceland and the Order of Jamaica (the “OJ”), which is Jamaica’s highest honor for a non-citizen.
Ambassador Cobb is a trustee of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Council of American Ambassadors. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Association of Diplomatic Studies and Training.
Ambassador Cobb served in the Cabinet of Florida Governor Jeb Bush as the secretary of state of Florida from November 2005 to January 2007 and as CEO of the Florida Lottery in 1999. She also served seven years (three terms) as the Board chair of the Federal Reserve Bank, Miami Branch. She was also the founding partner of the Public Finance Department of the Greenberg Traurig law firm, where she practiced law for several years. She also was an officer and director of several public, private, and charitable boards. When not in public service, she continues to engage in private-sector business activities with Cobb Partners, Ltd.—a privately held Florida-based investment firm.
Ambassador Sue Cobb is a graduate of Stanford University and the University of Miami School of Law. She is a skilled alpine skier and high-altitude climber who has scaled mountains worldwide and published, among other books, The Edge of Everest (Stackpole Books, 1989), in which she chronicles her travels across China and Tibet and her climb of Mt. Everest.
Ambassador Cobb is married to Ambassador Charles E. Cobb, a former US ambassador to Iceland and former assistant secretary and under secretary of the Department of Commerce. The Cobbs reside in Coral Gables, Florida. They have two sons, Christian (Chris) and Tobin (Toby), and seven grandchildren. Chris and his wife Kolleen Pasternack have three sons and one daughter: Frederick, Nicholas, Benjamin, and Cassidy Elizabeth. Toby and his wife Luisa Salazar have three sons: Luis Eduardo, Charles Edward, and Sebastian Griffin.