Susan has well-rounded experience in the board world, advising and influencing boards and board members as a corporate governance expert and thought leader, leading a board through “bet the company” change as a nonprofit board chair, and operating inside a Fortune 500 boardroom as a Chief Governance Officer and Global Deputy General Counsel.
Her executive experience combines risk, crisis management, and regulatory expertise with a strategic, future-focused, and purpose-driven approach She is a life-long builder of trust in the
marketplace, and in her recent appointment as an Alpha Fellow, she collaborates with technology leaders to elevate board oversight of AI.
She served as a Senior Advisor and Managing Director at KPMG’s Board
Leadership Center for over a decade, engaging with boards and C-suite leaders at the intersection of governance and strategy, risk, technology, stakeholder interests, and more. She has been named twice to the Directorship 100 list of top influential leaders in the boardroom by National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD). She was a founder of KPMG’s Board Leadership Center, transforming it from its roots as an audit committee- focused research institute to become a visible force for advancing board effectiveness broadly. She is an NACD Certified Director, and retired from KPMG in 2025 while continuing to serve on four nonprofit boards and consulting on board governance.
Susan’s work with boards is informed by 25+ years in Fortune 500 companies as a lawyer/business partner, executive officer, and advisor to the board and C-suite in the branded consumer products industry enabling sustainable growth through innovation and M&A, business transformation, strategic culture modernization, regulatory navigation, and brand protection through crises.
Her legal portfolios include transactions, supply chain, advertising law, antitrust, intellectual property, labor employment, ethics, compliance, regulatory, product safety, global trade and expansion, litigation and board governance. In addition, she has led crisis management and corporate security globally and served on management-level steering committees overseeing ESG, enterprise risk, innovation, communications, compensation including 401k oversight, and growth.
Susan’s deep nonprofit board experience includes multiple CEO transitions, strategic transformations, risk oversight, and board succession planning as a board member, nom/gov committee member and board chair, including:
