David O’Brien Suetholz
Current Company and Position: General Counsel, International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Family: Married: Ellen Yonts Suetholz; Children: Fiona O'Brien Suetholz, Phoebe Quinn Suetholz.
First Job: Bus boy at a steakhouse.
What it taught me: All jobs are worthy of dignity and respect. Wealthy people from my community who knew my parents did not recognize me nor afford me respect as a service employee until I noted my family connection. I've never forgotten that and live my life knowing not a single wheel would turn but for working people.
Best advice you could give someone starting out: All work has value. Embrace it and stand up for yourself. When one is not enough, together we are strong.
Who is your hero and why? Gustavo Gutierrez, a Peruvian parish priest changed the world by introducing a "Theology of Liberation" to the world. He challenged us with a reading of the Gospels that reminded believers we cannot accept unjust social structures that deny God's precious children a full expression of their potential.
Biography: David was raised by compassionate parents and alongside a proud Irish republican grandmother Annie Quinn O’Brien who reminded him at a young age of the injustice Irish immigrants endured and the imperative to stand against all forms of injustice—economic, racism etc. Her lessons and encouragement to fight back informed his world view and that led him to the labor movement—the primary bulwark for social justice in the United States. His work as General Counsel of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters is not possible without his partner and wife in justice Ellen and daughters Phoebe and Fiona.
