Susanne Mary Wood (born 1948) served as the president of the New Zealand National Party from 1982 to 1986, the youngest person and the first woman to hold the post.
At that time there was already speculation about the retirement of Frank Gill, the MP for East Coast Bays, media commented that Chapman was hinting at his seat.
[7] When Gill announced his retirement, after being appointed Ambassador to the United States, Wood was nominated for the National candidacy.
Her term as president, from 1982 to 1986, included the latter years of the Third National Government of Robert Muldoon, the 1984 general election, and the associated constitutional crisis as well as grappling with internal party politics.
Although she held a relatively high party-list ranking of 19, National's poor overall result in the 2002 election meant that she failed to enter Parliament.