Sue McCourt Cobb
b. 1937, California -
“As if being asked to serve my country in a foreign nation as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary wasn’t challenging and formidable enough, my very first day on the job as chief of mission at Embassy Kingston was September 11, 2001, the morning of the heinous attacks on the United States of America with the airplanes crashing into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and, inadvertently, a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. During my first day on the job, the world had suddenly changed. There was nothing to do but settle down, lead with composure, and figure out what our team in Jamaica was going to do to help our nation maintain a stable and supportive bilateral relationship just off our southern shore.
My husband Charles Cobb was ambassador to Iceland in the administration of George H.W. Bush (1989-1992), and I was ambassador to Jamaica in the administration of George W. Bush (2001-2005). That generated this fun fact: Chuck and I are told that we are the first and the only couple in US history to both serve as non-career ambassadors while each spouse is alive. We accompanied each other on our respective tours as “the ambassador’s spouse”—ever bit a diplomatic experience—and have great admiration for our career foreign services colleagues who serve our country abroad and move just about every three years to do so. Chuck and I strongly support the National Museum of American Diplomacy and have many stories to tell.”
Service History
US Ambassador to Jamaica, 2005 – 2007
Biography
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.