“I’ve always been interested in cities and towns and what makes them successful.” Susan Shore Howard Schwartz

Susan Schwartz has been fascinated with the inner workings of local government since she was a youngster: “My interest in the community has always been there. In the seventh grade, we had a mock election. I had to represent an actual candidate in the citywide election.”

Today, Susan is the executive director of Action Greensboro, a non-profit organization founded four years ago to bring more, and better-paying jobs to the city. She defines her field of endeavor as community strategic planning. “[It involves] working with citizens to develop plans and implement them to strengthen communities. What I do now—and this is really unusual—is report to the leaders of six different foundations. We’re successful with what we do because we have engaged many others. They include CEOs, elected officials, young professionals who want to be connected with their community, education leaders (including the county school superintendent), and the presidents and chancellors of North Carolina A & T State University, Bennett College for Women, the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, and Greensboro and Guilford Colleges, and Guilford Technical Community College. In every job I’ve had related to community strategic planning, I’ve worked with a variety of people.”

Susan, a native of Winston-Salem, attended Salem College, where she majored in Sociology and English. Community strategic planning wasn’t the career path she envisioned for herself. “When I was in college I intended to major in math and I didn’t do well. I was attracted to sociology, but my first job was a bank teller and then I had babies.” (Susan has two adult sons, two stepdaughters, and a new granddaughter.)

Susan started a gift shop, Forget-Me-Not, Inc., on Greensboro’s State Street, with four others, but she eventually sold her ownership in the business. About the same time, the City of Greensboro started a strategic planning process. Ed Kitchen, the assistant city manager at that time, was looking for someone to work with him. Priscilla Taylor, a friend of Susan’s, recommended her to Kitchen. “Ed was looking for an assistant to help organize citizen participation in a project called Greensboro Visions. [It] was a community driven strategic plan that focused on deciding the key issues that faced our community and identified how we wanted to address them.”

After Ed Kitchen left the position, Susan became the director, and successfully ran Greensboro Visions for two years. “One of our accomplishments was passage of a $98 million bond package that included allocating part of our local property tax for affordable housing and creation of the housing department within the City of Greensboro. The bond issue enabled the city to assume management of public transportation. It also provided money for parks and open space. We involved hundreds of people in promoting this package because there was something in it for everyone and it passed.”

Susan left the city and went to work for Piedmont Triad Horizons. There she started the Triad Leadership Network and brought structure to the organization by establishing the Piedmont Triad Partnership to market and promote the region.

In 1994, Susan and her husband moved to Somerset County, New Jersey. While looking for work, she was referred to the Somerset Alliance for the Future, a non-profit consisting of the 30 largest employers in the county. Somerset County has 21 municipalities and 19 school districts; employers formed the alliance because they felt local government was unable to effectively plan for the county’s future.

“I was the vice president and I had two main responsibilities. One was to oversee a staff of nine, funded by an amendment to the clean air act. They worked with local companies to reduce the number of cars going into the workplace.” Susan continues, “My second responsibility was to facilitate and coordinate shared services among the 21 municipalities. I did that for four years, continuing as a consultant for the shared services component after we moved to Milwaukee. From Milwaukee we moved back to Greensboro, and I eventually moved into this position.”

Susan used key words to describe the specific areas of knowledge, expertise and skills she has acquired over the past eighteen years: “I am focused, a good listener and writer. I am personable; I’m a good organizer, and I’m pragmatic. I’m good at identifying good ideas and pulling them together into something that works.” She added, “I appreciate the responsibilities elected officials have in running our cities, counties, and state. I enjoy, and appreciate, the arts, sports, history, and music and I see them as integral components of a city. I’ve been fortunate in that the four organizations I’ve worked for have afforded me the opportunity to partner with leaders in all these different areas to help make my community a better one.”

Susan offered sage advice to women interested in pursuing careers in community strategic planning. “Volunteer. I joined, and then served as president of the Junior League of Greensboro. It afforded me the opportunity to meet and work with business leaders, local government officials and heads of non-profit organizations. It enabled me to appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of the city and provided me a lot of exposure. I was trained in the specifics of strategic planning and group dynamics. I learned how to get things done.”

Susan recommended: “Participate in what interests you. Find a place where you can make a difference and get involved. Seize the opportunity. I’ve kept my eyes open and my career has evolved very nicely.”

Susan is also active in the Greensboro community outside of Action Greensboro. She is the secretary of the board of directors of the Greensboro Symphony, member of the board of directors and the executive committee of the Greensboro Historical Museum, and a member of the Guilford County Extension Advisory Council.

Under Susan’s leadership, Action Greensboro has gone through many positive changes. “I really enjoy what I’m doing, a lot! I’d love to continue what I’m doing now. In January we merged with the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce and the Greensboro Economic Development Partnership. We’re now the Greensboro Partnership and we currently operate as three independent groups. Time will tell about our long-term structure and who does what. My hope is that the merger was a meaningful, strategic decision for Greensboro and that the entrepreneurship and nimbleness of Action Greensboro will pervade the new organization. And if it does, I hope there’s a role for me going forward. No matter what, in five years I’d like to be working; I’d like to be challenged and I’d like to be engaged in the momentum we’ve got going here.”

Susan reflected upon her successful career, and said, “I think women are so lucky because we get to do lots of different things in our lives. Be prepared—find out what you’re good at and try to get in a career field that uses your strengths. Build a body of work—a track record. Make sure your experiences mean something. I don’t think when I was 13, 15 or even 18 that I could have said I wanted to be the executive director of a non-profit that makes communities better. I could have said (just because of my personality) ‘I want to make a difference.’”