President’s Letter

Dear All,

It is my great pleasure to announce to all of you that Mrs. Susan Pompeo, wife of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, recently accepted our invitation to serve as the AAFSW’s Honorary President! The AAFSW Board and I are deeply honored and extremely delighted that Mrs. Pompeo joined our organization as its Honorary President!

Dear Mrs. Pompeo,
On behalf of all the AAFSW Membership, the AAFSW Board and me: “WELCOME TO OUR AAFSW FAMILY!”
Thank you so much for accepting to be AAFSW’s Honorary President!

Joanna Athanasopoulos Owen, PhD
AAFSW President

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Dear Associates of the American Foreign Service Worldwide Members:

I am honored by your invitation to serve as the AAFSW Honorary President and pleased to accept. I applaud the many years that AAFSW has served the American diplomatic community with advocacy, resources and programming. I’ll be looking to find ways that I might add value to the AAFSW mission.

Attending my first AAFSW Art and Book Fair this October will be a treat and I am eager to meet the 2018 Secretary of State Award winners. The SOSA winners represent the very best among family members—those who bloom (in important ways) where they are planted. I hope to meet many of you at these AAFSW activities and AAFSW cultural events.

Mike and I both appreciate the warm welcome that we have received from the diplomatic community and AAFSW President, Dr. Joanna Athanasopoulos Owen on behalf of the AAFSW Board. We look forward to working alongside you to strengthen fellow foreign service families and supporting the entire American diplomatic community.

Susan Pompeo
AAFSW Honorary President

 

Biography of Susan Pompeo

A lifelong Kansan, Susan was an active in theater and student government in preparation for college. She is a Wichita State Shocker through and through having not only graduated from the university with a major in communications, but also working for her alma mater as associate director for the Wichita State Alumni Association. There, she was responsible for fundraising, establishing WSU chapters across the country and managing alumni events. As a volunteer, she would go on to service as President of the WSU National Alumni Association.

Following her time at Wichita State, she returned to the private sector working with small business owners as a Senior Vice President at Emprise Bank and, later, founded the Bank’s private banking division. After fifteen years of helping others grow their businesses, Susan left the bank and, not long thereafter, opened her own small business.

Susan continues her volunteer involvement at Wichita State and with Delta Gamma Fraternity. She has served on numerous charitable organization boards including: Wichita Art Museum, Arts Partners, Jr. League of Wichita and Music Theater of Wichita. She served for many years in multiple capacities– from board President to small group student leader–for Communities in Schools, an organization committed to connecting students in need to existing resources that
enable them to stay in school and thrive.

Susan and Mike served as President of multiple school parent boards and led numerous school fundraising efforts as their son, Nicholas (now 28) prepared for college. She volunteered for years at church, leading a women’s ministries and co-teaching 5th grade Sunday School in addition to special projects.

When Mike became CIA Director in early 2017, the Pompeos became full time Virginia residents and Susan began serving as a family member advocate at the Central Intelligence Agency, visiting with family members and embassy staff at posts around the world.

An avid sports fan (especially Shocker sports!), Susan enjoys playing tennis, reading, watching movies and independent films, attending music theater and keeping track of the Pompeos’ 100 pound crème golden retriever, Sherman.