SUSAN AU ALLEN came to the United States from Hong Kong on an invitation from the White House.  She received her J.D. from the Antioch School of Law and an LL.M. in International Law from Georgetown University Law Center. For 17 years, she practiced law in Paul Shearman Allen & Associates of Washington, DC and Hong Kong, and became nationally recognized for her work on immigration, international trade and investment.

In 1984, Susan founded the US Pan Asian American Chamber of Education Foundation (USPAACC-EF) with a group of civic and business leaders in Washington, DC, and became full time National President & CEO in 2001. A strong and effective advocate for Asian American issues on Capitol Hill and in the White House, her achievements reached a new level in Washington, DC when President George H.W. Bush appointed her to the Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States (1991-1996).

In 1999, A-Magazine named her one of 25 most influential Asians in America. 

Susan is a frequent guest at events in the White House, Senate and House of Representatives, organized to listen to America’s small, minority and women business communities. She plays an important role in helping to shape the national agenda on the economy.

Susan analogizes USPAACC-EF’s role in the last twenty years to an acorn that has grown to a small oak tree—with stronger roots and wider branches that reach out to thousands of Asian American entrepreneurs and professionals across the country. She is most proud of USPAACC-EF’s ability to open doors to contract, educational and professional opportunities to Asian Americans, the fastest-growing group with the highest business growth in the U.S. Once an immigrant herself, she knows the struggles that one must overcome to succeed and achieve the American dream. She devotes her life to offering a helping hand.

She is a member of the Diversity Council of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, International Franchise Association; the Small Business Advisory Committee of the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. General Services Administration, the U.S. Small Business Administration National Women’s Business Council, and the Kennedy Center Community Board.

Susan has also served on NASA Minority Business Advisory Committee (MBRAC), the National Advisory Board of the Women’s Small Business Summits held in Missouri in 2000 and 2002, the Board of Trustees of The Washington Initiative, Washington Board of Trade, the Diversity Council of TimeWarner, Wyndham International, the Premier Automotive Group (Aston Martin, Jaguar, Volvo and Landrover), the U.S. Marine Transportation System National Advisory Council, the Board of Directors of the Virginia Small Business Finance Authority, and the diversity boards of AMTRAK, the U.S. Marine Corps and American Red Cross.

She also served on the Secretary of Labor’s Committee on the Future of the Workplace of the President’s Council on the 21st Century Workforce, and the Board of Trustees of Excelsior College in New York.

For two decades at the helm of USPAACC-EF, she has become the voice of Asian American entrepreneurs and professionals, and her op-eds on issues related to business have been published in USA Today, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, Asian Week, Asian Fortune, among others. She has also appeared as a commentator on C-Span, CNN, CNBC, ABC, Fox News, “The News Hour,” “To the Contrary,” “This is America,” and “The Editor.”

A frequent radio commentator on US-Asia Pacific trade; US-China relations; Asian Americans; working women; equal opportunity; recruiting high technology professionals, scientists and engineers; and ethnic marketing strategies, her audience includes corporate and government executives and managers.

Among the awards she has received are American’s Top Diversity Advocates (2007), National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers’ Diversity Advocacy Award (2003), NASA Special Recognition Award for Extraordinary Efforts in Promoting Small Business Programs Nationally and Internationally (2002), Business Person of the Year Award from the League of Korean Americans-USA (2002), AT&T Spectrum Award for Advocacy for Minority Business Opportunity (2001), and Skirt in Power Award from the District of Columbia Chamber of Commerce (1992).

Susan also speaks and writes Chinese fluently.

Married, with two sons, Susan resides in McLean, Virginia.