Rising from a small-town upbringing in Littleton, New Hampshire, where she bussed tables at her parents’ hotel, SUZANNE HOPGOOD entered the business world at a time when women were only expected to be nurses, teachers, or secretaries. Instead, she forged a path through banking and real estate, where she learned that being consistently underestimated could become her greatest strategic advantage.

Her expertise in hotel and corporate crisis management led her to found The Hopgood Group, through which she worked with major financial institutions like John Hancock and Mellon Bank. In 1998, she made headlines when institutional investors elected her as Chair and CEO of Furr’s Restaurant Group Inc.

Hopgood’s governance expertise extended to chairing multiple corporate boards and serving as Managing Director of Board Advisory Services for the National Association of Corporate Directors. Her work took her around the world, speaking on corporate governance in Moscow, Hong Kong, Beijing, and South America.

Beyond her corporate career, Hopgood served for ten years as the Governor-appointed Chair of Hartford’s Capital Region Development Authority, overseeing the development of three thousand apartments in downtown Hartford with a 92 percent occupancy rate.

Now retired, Hopgood divides her time between her hometown of Littleton, New Hampshire, Hartford, Connecticut, and Thailand, where she continues to travel extensively.