Who We Are
Biography of the Honorable Susan Molinari
Century Council Chair Susan Molinari at the national launch of Alcohol 101 Plus enlarge photo
Susan Molinari is the Chairman of The Century Council, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to fighting drunk driving and underage drinking, and funded by America's leading distillers. Ms. Molinari also is the President & CEO of the Washington Group.
A Member of Congress from 1990 to 1997, Ms. Molinari quickly became "one of the most distinctive Members of the House" and "one of the most visible voices for her party" according to the authoritative Almanac of American Politics. As a result, after just four years in Washington, and just weeks after the election of the first GOP House majority in 40 years, Susan Molinari was elected by her colleagues to the eight person Republican Majority Leadership, making her the highest ranking woman in the Congress.
Susan Molinari with Rep. Dave Camp (R-Michigan-4th) enlarge photo
Unanimously re-elected to the House Leadership in 1996, Ms. Molinari also enjoyed another distinction that year as she was selected by GOP Presidential candidate Senator Robert Dole as Keynote Speaker at the Republican National Convention in San Diego.
Throughout her Congressional tenure, Susan Molinari was an effective leader in the fight for crime victims, passing sweeping judicial reforms to toughen laws on repeat rapists and child molesters and to increase funding for the Violence Against Women Act. She also won passage of measures to enhance adoption, and promote breast cancer awareness and research funding.
A member of the House Budget Committee, which produced Congress' first balanced budget in 29 years, Susan Molinari chaired the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's Railroad Subcommittee, which passed legislation to overhaul the nation's Amtrak passenger rail service. As chair, she also implemented the sunsetting of the Interstate Commerce Commission, creation of the Surface Transportation Board, and played a key role in fashioning the historic, five year, multi-billion dollar transportation-funding bill (TEA-21) adopted in 1997.
Susan Molinari at a press conference announcing Alcohol 101 Plus enlarge photo
Prior to Congress, Susan Molinari was twice elected to the New York City Council, where she was Minority Leader. In 1997, she left Congress to co-anchor the team inaugurating CBS News Saturday Morning, where she conducted on-air interviews of national and international newsmakers. Today, Ms. Molinari can regularly be seen on television analyzing politics, government and current events.
In addition to her broadcast experience, Susan Molinari has addressed hundreds of audiences on politics, policies and the media in nearly every state. She is represented by the Harry Walker Agency of New York City as a lecturer before business and trade organizations, universities and civic groups from coast-to-coast and was selected as one of the Top Five Speakers of 1998 by the members of Toastmasters International.
She is the co-author of the book Representative Mom: Balancing Budgets, Bill and Baby in the U.S. Congress (Doubleday, 1998). Susan Molinari has also authored scores of articles published by national magazines and daily newspapers on a wide variety of subjects, ranging from the role of women in politics to national fiscal policy.
Susan Molinari and Dr. David Anderson of the Century Council talk with a guest at the national launch event enlarge photo
Ms. Molinari was selected as a Visiting Fellow at the prestigious Institute of Politics/Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1998. She was chosen as Glamour magazine's Woman of the year in 1996 and by Time magazine as one of forty of the nation's most influential people under age forty in the nation in 1994.
She chairs the Ripon Educational Fund, and is the national spokesperson for Americans for Consumer Education and Competition, a financial literacy organization, and chairs the Century Council, a national, not-for-profit organization committed to reducing drunk driving and underage drinking. She also served as a member of the Bush-Cheney Transition Advisory Committee.
Ms. Molinari is a member of several boards including Protective Life Insurance, the Toyota North America Diversity Advisory Board, the March of Dimes Advisory Board, and the National Italian American Foundation.
Born and raised on Staten Island, Susan Molinari is a third generation public servant. Her grandfather was the first Italian-American immigrant elected to the New York State Assembly and she was elected to Congress succeeding her father, Guy V. Molinari, who is now serving as the Borough President of Staten Island.
Ms. Molinari is married to former New York Congressman Bill Paxon, now senior advisor at the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld, and they have two daughters.
