Client Testimonials

I worked with Susan during this past year to elevate my knowledge of higher education and to expand my leadership capacity as a new president. The depth of her knowledge and the scope of her strategic insights were invaluable as I led AGB through the COVID
pandemic while also empowering our 40,000 members to serve as strategic thought partners focused on student success and long-term institutional vitality. Susan also is an excellent editor and has worked effectively on special projects with members of my Leadership Team, has presented to the AGB Board of Directors and will soon facilitate the Board’s annual retreat. Without hesitation, I highly recommend board leaders and presidents to engage with Susan and to collaboratively sharpen their strategies, initiatives, and plans to exceed community expectations.

Dr. Pierce has helped us find a way forward to transform our faculty governance system. Her deep understanding of the inner workings of colleges and universities and her perspectives on shared governance are invaluable.  A close questioner, careful listener, and astute analyzer, she rapidly became conversant with the culture and issues on our campus. Her consulting visit and report have been a catalyst for positive change. An added benefit: she worked equally well with members of our task force, other members of the faculty and key administrators so that our very process exemplified shared governance.

I first came to know Susan Resneck Pierce and her work when she consulted with and facilitated a retreat with Whitman College’s President and Board of Trustees and other key members of the Whitman community to launch a significant strategic planning effort. Because Whitman’s Board of Trustees had decided to review and revamp its governance structure and operational practices, Susan led a special session on board governance to provide the group with an understanding of relevant higher ed issues, best practices in governance of liberal arts colleges, traps to avoid and the like.

The Board created a seven-person Governance Review Committee which I chair to review and recommend relevant changes in Whitman’s governance structure and practices. Susan has been deeply engaged consulting with us throughout what will be a year-long project, as we’ve tackled our very important charge. Susan believes strongly that each college, and each governance challenge, is unique; there are no cookie-cutter approaches that fit all situations. Accordingly, she has developed an in-depth understanding of Whitman. Beyond that, the special skills and talents Susan brings to our work include her

• Broad-gauged understanding and a wealth of knowledge about higher education
• Deep and extensive history in governance of liberal arts colleges
• Exceptional listening skills; she makes sure she listens respectfully to all parties
• Outstanding written and oral communication skills
• Very high energy and very high personal performance standards
• Understanding of the relationship between the Board and the President and administration and other groups in the community and great empathy for all
• Commitment to collaboration, inclusion, and consensus building

Susan has great passion for her work, she’s a diplomat par excellence, and she has a twinkle in her eye and an informal personal style that’s easy to like! Susan has become our invaluable partner.

Following the retirement of Dr. Norman Francis after 47 years of strong leadership as our president, the Xavier University Board of Trustees retained Dr. Susan Pierce to conduct an institutional review. Xavier had never before had the benefit of such a review. The Board of Trustees believed that Dr. Pierce could help our new president, Dr. C. Reynold Verret and the board identify traditions worthy of retaining and areas where improvement was needed and best practices could be employed. She did not disappoint!

During her three visits to campus over a two month period, Susan met individually with every member of the senior leadership team, a number of trustees, Dr. Francis, Dr. Verret and some members of the faculty. She also met with small groups of faculty, staff members and students and with the Executive Committee of the Board. She read a vast array of documents provided by Xavier.

Before composing her report Susan sought to gain a genuine understanding of Xavier and the challenges we face as a small private, historically black college which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and its lingering after-effects. She listened carefully and was attentive to nuance.

Susan Pierce provided Xavier with an important roadmap for the future. She provided insightful observations and made extremely helpful recommendations about: how the university was organized, admissions and retention, how we use financial aid, fundraising, student life, institutional positioning, how we allocate resources and develop the budget, and shared governance. She made specific, actionable suggestions that provided our president with the means to craft an effective action plan to implement needed changes.

Susan was a wonderful collaborator who took pains to fashion a review that would be of value to the university when completed rather than another report to be simply filed away. I am still astonished by the time and effort she expended on this project. She has a combination of wisdom and experience and I look forward to working with her again in the future.

Dr. Pierce facilitated one of the best strategic planning meeting I have ever attended! The board of trustees had ample brainstorming and discussion time, and finished the meeting with solid strategic ideas that were focused and realistic to implement. The collaborative approach that included consideration of all university stakeholders – the board leadership, members of the faculty, the president and senior staff was much appreciated.

When I was appointed as President, I needed a confidant to evaluate the effectiveness of our fundraising team and help build the structures for a more engaged Board of Trustees. Susan provided all of that and more. Her in-depth knowledge of higher education and experience as a successful university president gives you confidence that her recommendations are going to be spot on. She quickly synthesized information and communicated strategic improvements that would help create a more engaged Board of Trustees and fundraising function. Several years later, Dunwoody has made significant improvements, none of which would have been possible without the input and guidance of Susan. She did a great job for us and I strongly recommend her for any college or university.

Constancy is an increasingly rare and treasured facet of leadership.  I had the good fortune to serve the University of Puget Sound with the same board chair and the same president — Susan Resneck Pierce — for a full decade, together building a successful development program and comprehensive campaign.  In this time of destructive churn at the upper ranks, Puget Sound made huge strides during and well beyond Susan’s presidency.  I and many others are indebted to her for helping us thrive and grow over time.

Today, Susan’s consulting practice has unusual breadth and depth.  She serves a diverse client base from a deep knowledge of board development, best practices for presidents, strategic planning, curricular innovation, and partnering with developers to attract large, useful gifts.  As a former staffer and now as a fellow consultant, I am grateful for her support and inspiration.

Dr. Susan Resneck Pierce is a tremendous and insightful resource for higher education today and the future. As the headwinds of the sector continue to shift, Pierce is highly relevant and thought-provoking in her counsel to presidents, governing boards, and key leaders alike.

As president of an innovative higher education system comprised of multiple colleges and universities, I have experienced Pierce’s uncanny ability to bring broader perspective and solutions to a wide array of areas and audiences. She has been instrumental in synthesizing and validating lessons learned to drive strategy and enhanced performance at all levels. The impact of her work is clearly evidenced by the enriched strengths of leaders, improvements to shared governance, and institutional effectiveness—all of which ultimately benefit our core constituency and purpose: students.

Engagement with Dr. Susan Resneck Pierce is a distinct and prolific experience that can only serve as a catalyst for success. She is truly a leader among leaders.

Susan Pierce has been working with Kettering University since the Fall of 2011. In my role as Chair of the Board of Trustees at that point and until the Fall of 2014, I worked directly with Susan on a number of occasions and had the opportunity to observe the quality of her work with the Board and with Kettering’s President Bob McMahan. I will leave it to President McMahan to describe her work with him as well as her work with members of his Cabinet and the campus.

What strikes me most is Susan’s versatility, the depth of her understanding of and engagement in Kettering, and the consistent value she has brought to the University. Susan has facilitated two very successful retreats for the Board of Trustees. The first retreat focused on matters of governance (particularly the role of the board in relationship to a new president) and on our strategic direction, setting the stage for what has been an extremely productive board-president relationship and also a widely shared view of the University’s goals and priorities. In the second retreat, Susan provided us with a comprehensive view of what has been happening nationally to private colleges and universities and then led us through an important conversation about our strategic positioning. Clearly, she designed these retreats for Kettering rather than using a “cookie cutter” approach.

As I began my term as Chair, Kettering introduced the new president and Susan was available to discuss and advise me about a wide array matters that came before both the Kettering Board and me during the transition period and beyond. In those conversations, I was struck by her thoughtful analysis, experienced-based insightfulness, directness, and her proactive approach to solving problems. She understood the University’s situation and provided a steady sounding board.

I would recommend her highly.

Susan Resneck Pierce has worked with me in two very different educational consulting capacities over the past six years.  She can lay out an impeccable process for working through a significant issue(s), work diplomatically to include all relevant parties, distill the major strategic issues backed up with useful research, and once the relevant information has been gathered, help lead the players to consensus and conclusion.

While she is extremely knowledgeable, her open and low-key style allows clients across a spectrum of knowledge and expertise from first time college board members to sitting presidents to other educational experts to feel heard and validated. Anyone who has the good fortune to retain her services will benefit from her extraordinary background, knowledge, and problem-solving skills.

Elizabeth Wyatt, Vice Chair, Sweet Briar College Board of Directors and Chair of “The Working Group” charged with overseeing strategic initiatives and positioning.