Susan Bulkeley Butler

Susan is CEO of The Susan Bulkeley Butler Institute for the Development of Women Leaders and author of Women Count: A Guide to Changing the World.

In 1965, Butler was the first professional female employee at Arthur Andersen & Co., and in 1979 she became the first female partner of Andersen Consulting, now known as Accenture. Butler is currently on the Junior Achievement Worldwide Board of Directors, and the Board of Trustees of LeaderShape, Inc. Susan is a delegate at Vision 2020, a national project focused on advancing gender equality by energizing the dialogue about women and leadership. She is a past member of the Board of Trustees at Purdue University. As a philanthropist, Butler has endowed chairs, scholarships and the Butler Institute of Leadership Excellence. Late Indiana Governor Frank O’Bannon presented Butler the Sagamore of the Wabash Award, Indiana’s highest honor for distinguished service. Additionally she received an honorary doctorate in management from Purdue. Her aspiration is to impact “zillions of women and girls to be all they can be.” She fulfills this aspiration with her new book, WOMEN COUNT, A Guide to Changing the World, her first book, Become the CEO of You, Inc, (2008), her monthly newsletter, executive coaching, speaking and conducting workshops.

Susan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial management and an Honorary Doctorate in management from Purdue University. She funded the Susan Bulkeley Butler Chair in Operations Management at Purdue's Krannert School and has also endowed scholarships and awards for outstanding students at Purdue and Simmons College.

Susan has received the Sagamore of the Wabash Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Governor of Indiana for distinguished service to the state. Prior recipients include presidents, ambassadors, artists and astronauts. In 2001, Upside magazine named her to its list of "The 50 Most Remarkable Women in Technology" who have moved the industry "beyond the glass-ceiling cliché."

Susan is Past President of Purdue's President's Council and serves on the Board of Directors of the Purdue Research Foundation, the Dean's Advisory Council at Purdue's Krannert School of Management, and the National Board of Advisors of the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona. Susan has been a member of the National Board of Directors of the Girl Scouts of the USA and in 2003 was appointed to the worldwide board of Junior Achievement. She is a member of the Committee of 200 and has participated in Fortune's "Most Powerful Women in Business" Summits.