In 2018, Susan joined the founding board of the Patriot Art Foundation and serves as President.

Susan is a native of SC and graduate of the College of Charleston, earning a BA in Fine Arts, and M.Ed. in Special Education in. She taught Visual Art and Gifted and Talented students in Charleston County Schools, retiring after 28 years in Mount Pleasant.

For seven years, Susan was the Education Designee of SC Senate President Pro Tempore to the Education Oversight Committee of SC, an arm of the legislature that oversees public school accountability and K-12 funding.

Susan currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Patriots Point Development Authority, the designee of the Senate Finance Chairman. She is the Education and Museums Committee Chairman. She represented PPDA as liaison to the Medal of Honor Museum Foundation beginning in 2010 and continues today in a separate role as a Director and the Secretary of the Congressional Medal of Honor Heritage Leadership Center which will be located in the new Congressional Medal of Honor Museum at Patriots Point in 2024. Susan is a certified instructor in the CMOH Society Character Development Program, completing CDP training at Valley Forge.

Susan is currently a member the Board of Directors of the National Special Forces Charitable Trust, an Honorary Member of the SC Special Forces Association as well as NC SFA Chapter 57 (Montagnards). She is also an Honorary Life Member of the Celebrate Freedoms Foundation in Columbia, SC