Susan Edwards '10

Tell us a bit about your background - where did you grow up and go to college? 

I grew up on the South Side of Chicago.  I’d always been good at Math and in Whitney Young High School I had a great teacher who sparked my interest in Chemistry, so I combined the two and decided to study Chemical Engineering.  I wanted to get out of the cold and Stanford was my reach school.  When I got in, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity so decided to go despite the distance. 

Any work experience prior to Kellogg?

During my final year at Stanford I interned for Abbott Laboratories and they gave me an offer to join after graduation.  I started in their engineering rotational program in a facility on the outskirts of Chicago., then moved to California to work in a manufacturing facility in Redwood City.  I later shifted to the Diabetes division in a role supporting R&D.

Why choose Kellogg? Was the Board Fellows program a factor in your decision?

After a few years I decided this wasn’t the right long-term career path for me.  I’d read Hillary Clinton’s memoir and was inspired by her life and work to improve the world.  But I realized that I didn’t want to go into politics, so I decided I wanted to create a positive impact through the world of business. 

When I started looking at business schools I was excited by the work Kellogg was doing in the social impact space.   I also applied to Harvard and Ross.  A lot of my friends were surprised when I turned down HBS for Kellogg, but I liked the collaborative environment and the passion the students and faculty in the social impact space had for the work they were doing with non-profits in Chicago.  

I learned about the Board Fellows program during my research on Kellogg.  The chance to take part in it and other programs that helped me engage in the community where I grew up were a big part in my decision.   

Which non-profit were you matched with in the Board Fellows program and what was your project?

I was paired with Public Allies, Michelle Obama’s first foray into public service.  Her husband had just been elected President, so the timing was great to revive the board and ramp up fundraising.  I sat on the governance committee and worked with the new Executive Director to think through board formation and evaluation.  I created a matrix for assessing whether the board had the right skills and capabilities needed for its mission and strategy – i.e. did the composition fit with the need to raise substantial new funds. 

What were the greatest areas of growth and development for you through the Fellowship?

Recognizing the importance of building relationships and trust.  I saw that for any change you want to make, you can’t assume everyone will be with you.  Particularly true on a non-profit board where everyone is a volunteer.  I saw that it was vital to understand people’s intentions and how to get their buy-in.  This has benefited me in my current job as an impact investor sitting on a number of boards. I have a much better understanding of what it means to be a director. 

How would you rate the Board Fellows program? Any suggestions on way to improve?

It was a critical component of my Kellogg experience.  I did a number of non-profit internships while I was a student and this was definitely one of the most rewarding. The case studies we went through on non-profit CEOs navigating different roadblocks were very valuable in understanding issues we might encounter in the future. 

I was fortunate to be part of a board that was open to new perspectives; I heard from some other fellows whose boards were very set in their ways.  If possible, it might have been nice to have a chance to sit in on another organization’s meeting to see the differences in board dynamics. 

What have you done since graduation?

I interned at the Chicago Urban League supporting a program called Next One, where leaders of Black-owned businesses took courses at Kellogg and worked with a student team on a project.  It was a great experience. 

I then moved with my husband [Varsay Sirleaf, whom she met at Kellogg] to Kenya for his World Bank assignment.   I spent four years investing in healthcare businesses in the East Africa region for the Abraaj Group.   

We then moved to Liberia, where my husband is from, to expand a healthcare clinic.  I worked with the former President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, to help her set up a Presidential Center with the mission to increase the number of African women in public service. I was able to apply the learnings from my board fellows project to help her think through what she needed from her board and to then evaluate a long list of possible candidates.  It helped us have the right conversations with potential board members.   

We moved back to Chicago right before the pandemic.  I accepted a position as a Director at Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT), managing their Private Equity Accelerator program which is seeking to increase the diversity of the workforce in this industry.  It was through this program that I met the leaders of Vistria. 

What led you to join the Vistria Group?

I saw that their passion for positive social impact was authentic.  It was similar to my experience with the Africa Health Fund.  Vistria doesn’t treat impact as a tradeoff, but as something core to the mission of companies we invest in in healthcare, financial services and education.  Our strategy is to help people become “healthy, wealthy and wise”.   

In my role, I work primarily with our portfolio companies to help them look at how they might advance their DEI efforts – i.e. to conduct a pay equity audit, or implement a DEI strategy.   We’re planning to train our boards on what questions to ask of the management team in these areas. Some boards are better equipped than others to understand the impact vision.    

Are you currently working with any nonprofits?

I recently joined the advisory board for Facing History, a program that works with middle and high school students on how to talk through key events in racial history, i.e. US detention camps during W.W. II, the Holocaust, Tulsa race riots, etc. 

I’m also a part of the PAR Fund, an effort started by Kellogg alums to increase access to capital for minority and women-owned start-ups.  I joined to help them think through their effort, which had been fairly ad hoc - helping them to form an organization.