About Susan
Susan is CEO of The Susan Bulkeley Butler Institute for the Development of Women Leaders. Prior to founding the Institute, Susan established herself as an accomplished business leader who shaped her career at Accenture, the world’s leading management consulting, technology services and outsourcing organization. She joined Arthur Andersen & Co. as its first professional female employee in 1965, and 14 years later, was named the first female partner of its consulting organization, Andersen Consulting, now known as Accenture. Before her retirement in 2002, Susan was the Managing Partner for Accenture’s Office of the CEO for Chairman & CEO Joe W. Forehand. Susan served on Accenture’s Executive Committee, the company’s principal advisory and strategy-setting committee, and as President of the Accenture Foundation.
Susan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial management and an Honorary Doctorate in management from Purdue University. As a philanthropist, she has endowed chairs, scholarships and the Butler Institute for Leadership Excellence. Susan has received the Sagamore of the Wabash Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Governor of Indiana for distinguished service to the state. Prior recipients include presidents, ambassadors, artists and astronauts. In 2001, Upside magazine named her to its list of “The 50 Most Remarkable Women in Technology” who have moved the industry “beyond the glass-ceiling cliché.”
Susan is currently a visionary delegate for Vision 2020, a national project focused on advancing gender equality by August 26, 2020, a member of the worldwide board of Junior Achievement and LeaderShape LLC, and the Dean's Advisory Council at Purdue's Krannert School of Management, the National Board of Advisors of Eller College of Management and the School of Science at the University of Arizona. Susan is Past President of Purdue’s President’s Council, past member of the Board of Directors of the Purdue Research Foundation, and a former member of Purdue's Board of Trustees and the National Board of the Girl Scouts of the USA.
Susan is the author of Women Count: A Guide to Changing the World and Become the CEO of You, Inc., an executive coach, consultant to businesses and universities, and a speaker.