Sue Hoppin is the founder and president of the National Military Spouse Network, a professional development and networking organization supporting military spouses who must balance their own dreams and ambitions with the military lifestyle. Before founding the NMSN, Sue served as the first deputy director for spouse outreach for the Military Officers Association of America, charged with creating and spearheading military spouse initiatives for the 370,000 member association. In 2007, Sue co-authored, “A Family’s Guide to the Military” for the popular Dummies series. In recognition of her accomplishments, Military Spouse Magazine named Sue on both their 2007 and 2008 Who’s Who of Military Spouses list recognizing those who have made significant contributions in the military community for all military spouses; making her the only person to be named on the list two years in a row.
Sue Hoppin is passionate about quality of life issues for military families because she lives and understands the challenges of the military lifestyle. Elements of her story are shared by any number of other military spouses.
She met her husband when they were attending school and finished her studies while he attended undergraduate pilot training. The couple married and a son followed not too long afterwards. Their transient lifestyle, deployment schedules and other demands kept Sue at home with their son while her husband deployed around the world. Before entering the work force, she served the military community as a volunteer. Her responsibilities ranged from squadron fundraiser and spouse club membership chair to the presidency of both the Air Force Officers Wives Club of the Greater Washington DC area and Kadena Officers’ Spouses’ Club as well as the Ramstein Elementary School PTA. She was recognized for her volunteer efforts with awards as Volunteer of the Year at McConnell AFB (1999), 76th Airlift Squadron Spouse of the Year (2002).
Sue holds a bachelor’s degree in international studies from the University of Denver and a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Oklahoma.