Throughout her career, Susan’s best skills stem from a keen devotion to listening to her clients to optimally serve their goals, then matching that with priority projects and seeing the fine details through to the successful fruition of a meaningful charitable relationship and outcome. Collaboration is the cornerstone of it all:  by working together and matching donors’ philanthropic passions with the best projects, we all make a positive difference.

Susan has deep, relevant experience collaborating with and serving as a staff-lead for large and small Boards of Directors, with Campaign Committees, with donors at all levels from first-ever donations to six- and seven-figure gifts, pledges, and bequests; she is mindful of donors’ and charities’ budgets; she is adept and creative with grant-writing and grant application/submission processes, proposal writing and presentation, and speech-writing.   

Susan works with the highest level of professionalism, diligence, and poise to help charitably-minded people unite with projects of merit and distinction. She works effectively with people and projects across a broad swath of interests. Susan is equally comfortable helping a first-time donor endow a university’s literary journal, or working with cattle ranchers seeking to create a legacy through scholarships in Agricultural Sciences, or helping the world’s largest hematology charity raise money so that physicians and biomedical researchers can find new treatments and cures for rare diseases like Sickle Cell Anemia. Whether it’s blue chip art being considered as a museum gift or sitting with family members over the blue plate special at a local diner, Susan helps people find and maximize their philanthropic, creative interests.

After graduating from Brown University (1987) with a double-major in Art History and History, Susan worked for several years at a prestigious fine art gallery in New York City, where she was promoted to the position of Assistant Director of Paintings & Sculpture.

Thereafter, Susan shifted from promoting and selling fine art to a new career in philanthropy.  Now, with over 25 years of experience in front-line philanthropy as a Major Gifts Officer working for major national and international not-for-profit organizations, Susan brings expertise and personal attention to all sides:  donors and charities seeking guidance and leadership will benefit from engaging SCSC to help accomplish their goals. 

Susan worked for almost 18 years at the University of Nebraska Foundation as a Senior Director of Development, assisting donors at all levels to support a wide array of higher education imperatives including appreciable advances in student and faculty support (scholarships and professorships/chairs), capital campaigns and facilities improvements, academic program growth, and university museum acquisitions.  Susan’s portfolio of people and projects covered the gamut from the University Libraries and their extensive Archives and Collections (print and digital); Dental and Medical education and research; state-of-the-art Agricultural Sciences Institute and academic program support; and help with a burgeoning Innovation Campus fostering connections between higher education and entrepreneurial tech startups. 

Susan was recruited in 2016 to Washington, DC to serve as the inaugural Director of the American Society of Hematology’s charitable Foundation department. She successfully designed and implemented ASH’s strategic philanthropic programs at all levels including annual, major, and planned gifts as well as launching Major Gifts and Pledge Programs for the world’s foremost professional organization supporting the advancement of education, professional and career development, and research devoted to hematology.

Susan then worked briefly in Sponsorships and Business Development at the Palm Springs International Film Society in southern California, where she now resides full time.