Suzanne Nossel

Suzanne Nossel is the executive director of PEN American Center, the largest of the 144 centers that form a loose federation that comprise PEN International. Her career has spanned government service and leadership roles in the corporate and non-profit sectors.

Previously, she served as Executive Director of Amnesty International USA, from January 2, 2012 to January 11, 2013. Her work there led to the successful passage of the Afghan Women and Girls Security and Promotion Act of 2012, and drew attention to the case of imprisoned punk band Pussy Riot.

Prior to her tenure at Amnesty International, she served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of International Organization Affairs in 2009, where she was responsible for multilateral human rights, humanitarian affairs, women’s issues, public diplomacy, press, and congressional relations. At the State Department, Nossel played a leading role in U.S. engagement at the U.N. Human Rights Council, including the initiation of groundbreaking human rights resolutions on Iran, Syria, Libya, Côte d'Ivoire, freedom of association, freedom of expression, and the first U.N. resolution on the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons.

From 1999 to 2001 she served as Deputy to the Ambassador for U.N. Management and Reform at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations under Richard C. Holbrooke, where she was the lead U.S. representative to the U.N. General Assembly negotiating a deal to settle the U.S. arrears to the world body.

She is also a former Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Human Rights Watch and a former Vice President of Strategy and Operations for the Wall Street Journal from 2005–07.

She has served as a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, the Center for American Progress and the Council on Foreign Relations. She was also a law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, has worked to curb political violence in South Africa, and has monitored elections and documented human rights in Bosnia and Kosovo.

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