EPARTMENT OF TATE U.S. D S BUREAU OF DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS AND LABOR Suzan Johnson Cook 3rd Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom for the United States of America

Term of Appointment: May 2011 - October 2013

For the past four and half years, 2 years of preparing for and passing a unanimous US Senate Confirmation Hearing, and 2 ½ years in office, Suzan Johnson Cook (Or Ambassador Sujay as she is affectionately called) had the privilege and honor of serving the first African American President of the United States.

Appointed by President as the United States Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, Suzan Johnson Cook was the principal advisor to both the President of the United States and Secretary of State for Religious Freedom globally (“ Ambassador in Chief”, as she affectionately refers to it). She was the first African American and the first female to hold this position. She was the 3rd Ambassador at Large, since its creation under the 1998 IRF Act, and represented our nation in more than 25 countries and more than l00 Diplomatic engagements, integrating Religious Freedom into our Foreign Policy and National Security Priorities

An International Influencer, and success strategist, known for her bridge building giftedness, entrepreneurial skill, and distinctive diplomacy with dignity, she has just been named a DISTINGUISHED VISITING FELLOW with the Catholic University of America for 2014, and has been invited to be a Fellow at Oxford University, London England.

ESSENCE Magazine named her one of the TOP 40 Power women, along with First Lady Michelle Obama (2011), and MOVES Magazine recently named her as one of the TOP POWER MOVES women for 2013 at a Red Carpet Gala in .

Prior to joining the Department of State, Ambassador Johnson Cook was an author, activist, analyst, entrepreneur, and commentator, professional speaker, White House Fellow and faith leader. She has given more than 2,500 speeches and been featured on most major TV and radio shows, including: THE TODAY SHOW, GOOD MORNING AMERICA; FOX MIDDAY and THE DAVE DINKINS SHOW. She also served as guest/substitute host for the HEZEKIAH WALKER SHOW and Bob Law’s NIGHTALK. (Radio) and AMAZING GRACE (TV). She also hosts an internet show, “CONVERSATIONS WITH AMBASSADOR SUJAY”, on YouTube.

Known as the “Leader of Leaders”, she served three congregations in NYC, and led the largest gathering of clergy in the world, the Hampton Ministers conference, as its’ first and only female President, representing more than 12,000 clergy leaders, with more than 2 million constituents. She served as the senior pastor and CEO of Christian Fellowship Baptist Church in New York City from 1996-2010; the oldest Baptist Church in NY, Mariners’ Temple, from l983-l996 and the Wall Street Lunchtime congregation for the past l6 years, which features 20th&21st Century voices including: Former President ; Hon , COUNCIL SPEAKER CHRISTINE QUINN, Revs’ AL SHARPTON and JESSE JACKSON And the late YOLANDA KING, eldest daughter of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. She is also the founder and president of Wisdom Women Worldwide Center, a global center for women of faith who are leaders, activists and advocates for female equality, and recently began the ProVoice Movement, amplifying the voices of women, to be leaders in every sector of society and the owner of Charisma Speakers, a cross cultural coaching communications firm and speakers bureau, which provides professional speakers for all events, and prepares people for the world stage: public, professional and political life .

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE BUREAU OF DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND LABOR WWW.HUMANRIGHTS.GOV EPARTMENT OF TATE U.S. D S BUREAU OF DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS AND LABOR

She has had three Presidential appointments, two appointments from Cabinet Secretaries and a United States Senate confirmation. In 1993, Johnson Cook was a White House Fellow on the Domestic Policy Council. In that role, she advised President Bill Clinton on a range of issues including homelessness, violence, and community empowerment, and was present on the White House Lawn for the historic “Presidential Honors” salute and ceremony given for President Nelson Mandela after his historic election. She also worked with the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development on faith based initiatives from 1994 until 1997. President Clinton appointed her in 1997 to serve on his National President’s Initiative on Race, as his only faith advisor.

Johnson Cook held the position of Chaplain to the New York City Police Department for twenty-one years, the only woman to serve in that role. She was on the front lines of 9/11. She was also a founder and board member of the Multi-Ethnic Center in New York City, a homework help, high school dropout prevention and performing arts afterschool center. She also served as a professor and officer at Harvard, served on the board of her alma mater, Emerson College, and was a professor at New York Theological Seminary from 1988-1996 and in the early 80’s.

Johnson Cook is the recipient of several awards, including the Woman of Conscience Award from the UN, the Martin Luther King Jr. Award, the Visionary Leader’s Award, the Judith Hollister Peace Award, and the Hellenic Award for Public Service, and has also authored ten books, three of them bestsellers: Too Blessed to be Stressed: Words of Wisdom for Women on the Move (Thomas Nelson) ; Sister to Sister: Volume One: Devotions for and from African American Women (Judson Press), and Becoming a Woman of Destiny:: Turning life’s Trials into Triumphs.

As for honors and highlights of her life, she cites: “I’m a faith entrepreneur, connecting business, faith and political leaders around the globe”.

Officiating at the funeral of Civil Rights Leader, , who invited her to be the keynote speaker at the last MLK Service she was able to attend, at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, and who called her “my other daughter”,

Being present on the White House Lawn when President Bill Clinton honored President Nelson Mandela with a “President’s Salute, after he won his historic election. and Sitting with Pope Benedict at the Vatican and in Assisi, Italy for the International Religious Freedom day of prayer.

.Ambassador Sujay received her Bachelor of Science in Speech, cum laude, from Emerson College in Boston in 1976 and a Master of Arts from Teachers College in New York City in 1978. She completed a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in NYC and a Doctor of Ministry from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, in 1983 and 1990, respectively. She was a Sam Proctor Fellow and a President's Administrative Fellow, both in 1990 and 1991, and a graduate of the Tuck Business School’s Minority Business Executive Program. She is a member of Sorority, the Washington DC Chapter of the Links, Inc., and an Advisory Board member of the OXI Foundation and Special Advisor to the Presiding Prelate of the GLOBAL UNITED FELLOWSHIP, for Cultural Diversity.

She lives and works in New York City, Washington DC, and Sag Harbor with her family.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE BUREAU OF DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND LABOR WWW.HUMANRIGHTS.GOV