Susan brings to ESIP over a decade of nonprofit management experience with both national and regional organizations and a diverse 20 year career in the environmental field spanning international consulting, federal and state public policy, state government, outdoor recreation and conservation experience. Susan currently serves as Vice President and Director of Programs for Chesapeake Conservancy a regional conservation organization based in Annapolis, MD dedicated to restoring the health of the nation’s largest estuary and connecting people to the Bay. She works closely with the organization’s Board of Directors, leads the program, administration and finance teams of this $7 million organization with 40 staff that span from Central Pennsylvania to Southern Virginia. 

Susan has a passion for data driven solutions. She served for 8 years on NOAA’s Hydrographic Services Review Panel federal advisory committee. In that role she provided guidance to NOAA on the use of their hydrographic products and services and witnessed the challenges and opportunities with the management of large data sets, coordination among federal and state agencies and the challenges that come with authoritative data and the growing push for crowdsourcing and community science. At Chesapeake Conservancy Susan works closely with the organization’s GIS team, the Conservation Innovation Center, one of Microsoft’s first lighthouse accounts for their AI for Earth program and a regular collaborator with Esri. In her work, Susan encouraged policy makers and funders throughout the Chesapeake watershed to use high resolution land cover data to align stakeholders and improve models to better understand the landscape and prioritize restoration investments. 

Susan holds a Master of Environmental Management from Duke University and a Bachelor of Arts in international studies from American University. Susan lives in Severna Park, MD. In her free time Susan loves spending time on the Chesapeake Bay with her husband and two boys on their family sailboat or fleet of kayaks.