Sandra A. Suran

For decades, clients, other consultants, and publishers urged Sandra to write a book about her diverse knowledge and unique approach to helping organizations. They told her that no other consultant helps to achieve the successful, sustainable results that she does. They pushed her to document her methods for the benefit of their companies and others.

Three special people helped assure that her first book, The DNA of the Resilient Organization, would be completed. They told her it was too important not to finish. Her friend, Dr Beatrice Aebi-Magee, started the creative engine. A wonderful book agent, Michael Snell, got it loaded and moving on the right track, and Carol J. Amato guided her through the tough terrain of publishing.

Sandra is a highly accomplished Change Management and Implementation Specialist who passionately helps to improve organizations. She has an extensive background as a CPA-auditor, over twenty-five years as an organizational development and process improvement consultant, and extensive Board leadership experience. Her passion is to help organizations - private companies, not-for-profit organizations, and governmental agencies – embed greater resilience while working on their growth initiatives and change projects.

Sandra’s diverse ancestry, living in Guyana as a child, her education in over thirteen schools, and experiences with a vast number of organizations embedded resilience, adaptability and leadership within her DNA. Most of all, she learned about people, and people enable organizations to thrive. Sandra’s passion is to help people, through facilitating development and improvement of organization environments, processes and systems, resolving difficult issues, and assuring successful initiatives.

Sandra’s deep and broad leadership and organization development experiences began early. She was appointed to two state boards with industry leaders (in accounting and insurance) by the Governor when she was 30. Before she was 40, she was selected as National Small Business Advocate by the Small Business Administration (SBA) for her extensive work in championing the needs of small business. During the following four years, she began service on boards comprised of national business leaders, including both of the two major accounting organizations in the U.S. and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

Sandra also started her own CPA firm at age 30, specializing in attest (audits and reviews) and consulting services. It became, in 11 years, the largest Portland based firm and subsequently merged with KPMG, one of the largest international CPA firms. As a result of her leadership accomplishments and visibility, Sandra received her most cherished award, the Abigail Scott Duniway Award for “Outstanding Contributions to Raising the Status of Women in Oregon”, the first businesswoman to receive the award.

With major leadership experience and high level organizational knowledge under her belt by an early age, coupled with her experiences working with hundreds of businesses and government entities, Sandra started a management consulting firm in 1990. She hired 13 other consultants with a variety of specialty skills – human resource, marketing, process improvement, and systems specialists to work with her. Her clients, highly regarded large and small organizations with challenging and complex growth and sustainability issues, provided Sandra with unusually comprehensive, deep, real world fodder for writing this book about organizational resilience.

In addition to her professional interests, Sandra loves to entertain, cook, hike, attend the symphony, and is actively involved in her profession, community and church. She lives near Portland, Oregon and has a daughter, son and four grandchildren.