Ellen Spencer Susman (born October 16, 1950) is an American journalist, philanthropist, political appointee and television producer. She was nominated by Barack Obama in September 2011 to serve as a member of his Advisory Committee on the Arts for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.[2] She served from 2013 to 2016 as the director of the US Department of StateArt in Embassies Program,[3] a public-private partnership of American and international artists, collectors, galleries, foundations, museums and universities.[4]
Life and education
Susman attended the George School in Newtown, PA and Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart in Princeton, NJ.[5] Her father was president of Spencer Industries, a family-owned company in Princeton, NJ that manufactured boys' and men's clothes for large retailers.[6] She graduated from Briarcliff College in 1972 with a B.A. in English.[7]
Susman is an accomplished equestrian and owns and exhibits American Saddlebred horses,[10] an avocation shared with her mother, Babette Spencer Santarelli Williams, a recognized equitation instructor and trainer of American Saddlebreds.[11]
Early career
A former broadcast journalist, Susman began her career in 1977 at KYW-TV, a Westinghouse Broadcasting station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, hosting Evening/PM Magazine.[12][13] In 1994, she created, produced and hosted The Aspen Institute Television Show, which "featured guests from government, business and media for discussions about leadership."[3]
In 2001, Susman hosted The Myth of Superwoman, a conference that focused on the balancing act women face in their personal and career lives.[3] Widespread interest in this issue led her to produce and host Superwoman Central, a public television show that aired on Houston PBS in 2005.[14]
Susman edited Danger Pay: Memoir of a Photojournalist in the Middle East,[17] written by her late sister, Carol Spencer Mitchell (1954–2004). The memoir was published in November 2008 by University of Texas Press,[18] and was selected by the 2009 University Press Books Committee as an outstanding-rated title essential to most public and secondary school libraries.[19] Susman collaborated with museum curator Anne Wilkes Tucker to create the Carol Spencer Mitchell Photographic Archive, which consists of approximately 60,000 photos and is housed at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.[20]
In 2013, Susman co-founded The Texas Future Project, a fund-raising corporation that focuses on policy as well as politics.[26] A Texas art collector and philanthropist, Susman contributed $100,000 to the super PAC supporting candidate Obama and indicated an interest in the directorship of the Art In Embassies Program.[27] During his presidential campaign, Susman raised $1.1 million for Obama, more than any other woman in Texas.[28]
During her tenure as director at Art In Embassies, Susman focused on developing innovative new partnerships in both the public and private sectors expanding the profile, collection, and outreach efforts; bringing artists to South Africa, Rome,[29] Berlin, London, Bern, Doha and The Hague, among others; forming partnerships with the Institute of American Indian Arts to create a portfolio of work for new American Embassies; and furthering Ambassadors' outreach in their respective host country communities.[30]
She also expanded the program by partnering with Ambassador Patrick Gaspard to bring U.S. artists to South Africa,[31] fulfilling the program's mission to create international dialogue and transform lives through art. This relationship led to an opportunity for Ambassador Gaspard to participate with other ambassadors and artists in a program at the Aspen Institute titled Cultural Diplomacy: Why Art Matters, which Susman facilitated.[32]
Ellen Susman is president of the Susman Family Foundation, which funds various charitable causes involving the arts, environment and social justice.[2] In 2010, the foundation gave $5 million to the University of Texas Law School,[3] and, in 2011, donated $11 million to the Yale University Art Gallery.[33]
