Suzan DelBene has over 20 years of experience creating jobs and building successful businesses from the ground up. Today she is running for Congress in the 1st district to rebuild our economy, stand up to Wall Street abuses, crack down on lobbyists and put the middle class first.

Spending part of her childhood growing up in Washington State, Suzan saw her parents struggle to make ends meet. Today she sees families across the 1st district suffering from the same financial instability her family felt.

Determined to arm herself with a quality education, Suzan worked her way through college and earned a bachelor's degree from Reed College in Portland, Oregon, and received a Master's in Business Administration from the University of Washington.

After college and graduate school, Suzan become a leader in technology and innovation.

Suzan embarked on a 14-year career at Microsoft. Among just a handful of women serving at the executive leadership level at Microsoft, Suzan worked as a corporate vice president running worldwide sales, marketing, and product management for the company's mobile technology business.

She also helped create drugstore.com as its original vice president of marketing and store development. She served as CEO and president of the startup company Nimble Technology.

Beyond her private sector experience, public service has always been central to Suzan's story. It is a key reason she decided to seek public office in the first place. She was an advisor to Global Partnerships, a microfinance nonprofit focused on providing needed loans to help create economic opportunities for people living in poverty. She has worked withthe YWCA to build programs to provide transitional housing and job training to women and families struggling to get back on their feet.
During Suzan's run for Congress in 2010, which she narrowly lost to incumbent Congressman Dave Reichert, she was endorsed by the Seattle Times, calling her "someone with sharp business and entrepreneurial skills" and a "smart moderate."

Suzan was then appointed by Governor Gregoire to be the Director of the Washington State Department of Revenue. During one of the most difficult budget challenges in state history, Suzan worked to streamline processes and save money. She also traveled the state working with small businesses to develop solutions to simplify the tax code and reduce administrative burdens on taxpayers.

With a lifetime of business experience and community involvement, Suzan offers a vision for economic growth based on supporting the efforts of businesses and individuals to transform innovative ideas into new opportunities. She brings a depth of experience and history of achieving concrete results that is clearly needed in today's difficult economic and political environment.

Suzan and her husband Kurt are proud to call the 1st district home.