PRESIDENT
Command Sergeant Major (Ret.) Annie L. Suggs, a native of Farmville, NC, and a resident of New York for over 53 years, enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve in 1979 and rose from Private to Command Sergeant Major. She completed Basic Combat Training at Fort Jackson and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Benjamin Harrison. Suggs served in various units, including the 305th Engineer Detachment, the 99th Signal Battalion, 408th AG, 943rd Replacement, 1-309th 78th Division, and the 391st Regiment, 98th Division. She was deployed to Bosnia for Operation Joint Endeavor and was mobilized for Operation Enduring Freedom.
Her military education includes BNCOC, ANCOC, and the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Course, along with coursework in personnel management, telecommunications, instructing, and combat lifesaving. Her MOS specialties include personnel and telecommunications (75C, 75H/Z, 72E, 74C, 74Z50).
Her awards consist of multiple Commendation and Achievement Medals, Army Service and Reserve Component ribbons, the NATO Medal (Former Yugoslavia), the National Defense Service Medal, and two Meritorious Service Medals.
CSM Suggs graduated from the United States Army Sergeant Major Academy. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Management from Nyack College, a Master of Divinity from the New York Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry from Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School.
Beyond her Army service, CSM Suggs dedicated 26 years to public service with the NYC MTA. After 12 years with New York Telephone/AT&T, she joined NYCTA in 1990 as a bus operator—earning recognition as one of the “5 Best Bus Operators” (1996–97)—and advanced to surface line dispatcher, superintendent, and NYS 19A-certified instructor. In 2015, she became the agency’s first Director of Customer Advocacy and ADA Compliance, serving as a liaison to the Chief Transportation Officer before retiring on May 1, 2017.
CSM Suggs joined the National Association of Black Military Women, Brooklyn Chapter, in March 2019. She now serves as the National Executive Board Chaplain and President of the Brooklyn Chapter. She is an ordained and licensed interfaith minister in the Unity Fellowship Church Movement, a social justice ministry, and the One Spirit Interfaith Alliance Seminary.
CSM Suggs attributes all her accomplishments to God. Her most outstanding achievement is her family: being the mother of her son, William M. Suggs, Sr., his wife, Elizabeth, and the grandmother of three wonderful grandchildren: William Jr., George, and Brianna.
CSM Suggs' life verse is Philippians 3:14, which states, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”