By Diana Brement, Jewish Sound Columnist
“This job leverages the amalgamation of all of the skills I’ve learned throughout my career and life,” says the Honorable Suzi LeVine, Seattle resident (on hiatus) and our country’s current ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Her varied job experience helped her earn this political appointment, notes Ambassador LeVine (say ‘vine” not “veen”). A graduate of Brown, she was recruited right out of college to work for Microsoft.
“I have worked in the technology and innovation realm at Microsoft and Expedia,” she explained in a written interview. “I have co-founded non-profit organizations,” including the Kavana Cooperative, Seattle’s “synagogue without walls,” and the advisory board for the University of Washington’s Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences. And, she adds, “I have been a stay at home mom — volunteering for many activities around my kids’ lives.”
While she was an active volunteer in the Obama campaign, that was only part of the reason for her selection, which landed her in Bern over the summer. She also cites her “twenty-plus years leading teams,” in technology, travel, education, innovation and social responsibility, and her volunteer work and community service.
LeVine got a lot of attention, particularly in the Twitterverse, for taking her oath of office on a copy of the constitution that was in her electronic tablet. When the State Department asked her what meaningful item she wanted to use for her swearing in, “I realized that, because of my roots in technology, the most logical would be to use the version I had already downloaded onto my e-reader,” she wrote. “Of course, as a woman who is truly ‘leaning in’ with this job, it only made sense that I would also have it open to the 19th amendment in which women received the right to vote!”
The ambassador’s most basic duty is to keep American citizens safe.
“In Switzerland and Liechtenstein, fortunately, we’re in good shape,” she observes.
But security is a constant concern and she works with her team to improve it. As for other duties, so far no two days have been alike. There’s a big focus on maintaining and improving business relations between our countries: Swiss companies create approximately 460,000 high-paying jobs for Americans, LeVine notes. Introducing Swiss and Liechtensteiners to American culture and politics is another role.
Writing before the High Holidays, Ambassador LeVine said she hadn’t yet explored Bern’s Jewish scene, but said she and her family planned to check out Magwan, a liberal congregation across the street from the residence (Magwan.ch). With anti-Semitic acts in Europe much in the news, LeVine appreciates that “Switzerland has done a lot to reduce anti-Semitism domestically,” with mandatory Holocaust education and government leaders participating in Yom Hashoah observance. The government also invested $1 million last year in the Auschwitz-Birkenau foundation. The Swiss, she says, are very focused on neutrality and freedom of expression, but they have strong laws against hate speech.
The U.S., she points out, has a Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism. Ira Forman has met with Jewish community leaders in 17 countries to assess their security.
“We remain concerned about the level of anti-Semitic incidents in Europe, particularly about aggressive acts against members of the Jewish community over the past couple of months, as well as threats of violence,” says LeVine. “These recent incidents highlight that in many parts of the world, anti-Semitism is not only a historical fact, but an ongoing problem that threatens the viability of Jewish communities in Europe.”
LeVine emphasized that she feels safe.
With her husband, kids, mother and dog all living in Switzerland, LeVine says her husband Eric has become the primary parent managing all the kid logistics right now.
“Without him and my mom,” she says, “I couldn’t do this job.”
Follow Suzi LeVine’s life as ambassador on Twitter at @AmbSuzi and on her blog: blogs.usembassy.gov/levine/