The Honorable and Mrs. Louis B. Susman

Biography

Louis B. Susman’s long and varied career in both the private and public sectors is a testament to his wide-ranging, life-long interests, expertise, and professional experience.

A former lawyer and banker, Mr. Susman was the US ambassador to the United Kingdom from 2009 to 2013.

Before his appointment by President Barack Obama, Mr. Susman was vice chairman of Citigroup Corporate and Investment Banking and a member of the Citigroup International Advisory Board. He was a former partner at the law firm of Thompson & Mitchell in St. Louis, where he practiced law for 27 years. He was also on the board of directors of the St. Louis Cardinals from 1975 to 1989.

Today, Mr. Susman is an advisor to Henry Crown & Co., a senior advisor to Gladstone Place Partners, a consultant to Perella Weinberg Partners, and the former chairman of CBI Holdings, LP, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BDT Capital Partners.

Mr. Susman is currently the vice chairman of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, a member of the advisory board of Atlas Merchant Capital, a member of the Holdingham International Advisory Board, a member of the Council of American Ambassadors, and a retired founding member of the board of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the US Senate.

In 2017, President Obama appointed Mr. Susman to the Board of Trustees of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Mr. Susman has long been active in the public sector. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan appointed him to the US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, which provided oversight to the US Information Agency. He also served as a director of the Center for National Policy, a nonpartisan organization based in Washington, DC, that examines national public policy issues.

He is a life trustee of The Art Institute of Chicago and a member of the International Council of the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute at Washington University in St. Louis.

Active in the political arena in the United States for many years, Mr. Susman was a senior advisor to President Obama’s campaign and was the national finance chairman for Senator John F. Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign.

Mr. Susman received his bachelor of arts degree from the University of Michigan in 1959, his bachelor of laws degree from Washington University in 1962, and an honorary doctor of humane letters from Connecticut College in 2012.

He and his wife Marjorie have two children and three grandchildren.