A Soft Spot for Giving

Susan Smith (MSIA 1996) enjoyed a noteworthy career that ran the gamut from college dropout to management consulting partner and payments industry executive. Through it all, she never forgot her alma mater, remaining a dedicated, generous supporter of the Tepper School with both time and resources.

“Ultimately, I believe it’s important to give,” Smith explained. And she’s done that in spades, including as an Order of the May Society member, Andrew Carnegie Society Board member and President, alumni event organizer, recruiter of dozens, panel speaker, reunions committee member, Tepper Alumni Board member, and Tepper Awards committee and Chair — as well as in other roles.

“Often, giving is a two-way street,” observed Smith, “On both boards, we talk about giving back, but I believe I get much more than I give. I’ve met amazing people, learned about things happening in every corner of the university, and had opportunities to do things I never dreamed I would.”

Smith, a Michigan native, had dropped out of college to venture to Colorado and work at a legal firm. She quickly mastered their then-cutting-edge word processing system, a nod to her early-adopter father, who paid his daughter one cent per address entry into his nifty small-business automatic mail system.

Smith next moved to selling word processing equipment and was hired away by a Pittsburgh legal client to run their IT function, enabling hundreds of lawyers to use email — in 1986.

Looking to shift to the business side, she was inspired to finish her degree after learning of Duquesne’s adult college program. Fortunately, a wise professor there recognized her potential and encouraged Smith to pursue her MBA — at Carnegie Mellon.

Smith loved the Tepper School (then GSIA) from the beginning, building strong friendships during the early weeks of math prep. She learned to work in groups, combining skill strengths, and “learned how to ask for help really fast,” necessary both at GSIA and in life. “I enjoyed pretty much every professor and every class,” she recalled, highlighting Richard Young’s business writing (“he definitely made me a better writer”) and Robert Kelley’s leadership courses.

“Tepper just filled in all the gaps I had on the business side,” she said, noting. “At Tepper, you learn frameworks versus methodologies, as well as formal analytical skills. If you have good solid frameworks and know how to analyze different kinds of problems using those frameworks, you can really solve just about any problem.”

After graduation, Smith joined startup Diamond Technology Partners (now part of PwC), “a fabulous experience combining technology and business strategy,” where she quickly rose to partner.

Her next move was into senior management in the payments industry, for both First Data Corporation and Western Union. Smith “retired three times” but was repeatedly called back.

“I was often the only person that spoke ‘IT’ on the business side — being bilingual is a good skill,” she laughed.

Finally truly retiring, Smith joined the Tepper Alumni Board, where she’s terming out to become an ambassador.

“I just have such a soft spot in my heart for Tepper,” said Smith. “I wanted to go back and do what I could to help.”