Susan Head \u201975 MA did not follow a straight path to success. \u201cI studied psychology at Western Maryland College and planned for a career counseling children through play therapy,\u201d she tells us. \u201cBut in my senior year, my father passed away. As the oldest sibling, I needed to come home to New Jersey to look after my family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Head took a job with New Jersey Bell Telephone but 18 months later left to earn her master\u2019s degree in psychology at Montclair State. \u201cI wanted to teach emotionally disturbed children, but the field was very crowded at the time,\u201d she recalls. She began working with neurologically impaired children at a private school but the pay was low, making it hard to make ends meet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI worked at McDonalds and then found work with the human resources department at a local bank,\u201d she says. \u201cIn 1981, I left for another human resources position with the bank that eventually became Wells Fargo, but I didn\u2019t really want to be in human resources anymore. I wanted to be on the income producing side of the business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her employer sent her back to school for an MBA and brought her into finance committee meetings to learn. \u201cThe next stop for me was going to be an account manager at the company\u2019s Wealth Department in Newark, but a week before my new start, the bank decided to close the Wealth Department,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Head will never forget the conversation with her supervisor, when he called to tell her the news. \u201cHe told me I should always remember that out of chaos comes opportunity,\u201d she recalls with a laugh. \u201cAnd then he told me I was being sent to the Trust Department of the bank to become a salesperson.\u201d<\/p>\n
With no sales or trust experience, Head wasn\u2019t sure what to make of this turn of events. \u201cBut it turned out to be a seriously pivotal moment for me,\u201d she says. \u201cI love observing people\u2019s behavior, which is a great way to approach sales. I have a sincere interest in learning more about who I am talking to and how they are feeling and reacting to the conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n
As her new role evolved into sales management for the trust department\u2019s not-for-profit clients, Head saw an opportunity to reconnect with her alma mater. \u201cI was client manager for the Frank and Lydia Bergen Foundation, which was focused on supporting music education,\u201d she says. \u201cI helped build that relationship to bring funding into Montclair State. The Foundation eventually supported the John J. Cali School of Music Building Fund, the Cali Connect Program, and the Shanghai Quartet Scholarship. It was a very rewarding experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Head found that she liked working with the University and began to get involved in other ways. \u201cI provided gift planning training for the Montclair State Foundation staff, helping them understand how donors can use tax-smart financial instruments to make substantial gifts,\u201d she says. In 2006, Head was recognized with the University\u2019s Carpe Diem Award and in 2015 she received the Distinguished Alumni Award at the Graduate School\u2019s Convocation ceremony.<\/p>\n
When Head retired from Wells Fargo in 2016, she joined Penny Vance, a colleague in the banking industry, as a member of the College of the Arts (CART) Advisory Board. It was Vance, who has served on the Montclair State University Foundation Board since 2018 and who is now the Board\u2019s Secretary, who recommended Head for a seat on the Foundation Board.<\/p>\n
These days, Head provides a bit of consulting for nonprofit organizations, but she is really looking forward to pouring her energy into her volunteer leadership roles at Montclair State. \u201cI have always been interested in music and dance, and CART has such wonderful programs,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I am also very, very passionate about social justice issues. When Bob Gregory, Chair of the CART Advisory Board, asked me to serve on a new social justice committee \u2013 an idea that came about during this current chaotic time of the pandemic \u2013 I saw an opportunity to bring it all together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Head also plans to bring her psychology-informed approach to her work with the Foundation Board. \u201cI know how to work with potential supporters to learn what they find most compelling about Montclair State,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen I find out what it is they are passionate about, I\u2019ll work to find the area at Montclair State that will be most interesting to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Head marvels at the events that led her to the CART Advisory Board and now the Foundation Board. She can\u2019t help but be reminded of the advice she received so long ago. \u201cOnce again, chaos presented me with new opportunities,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After a highly successful career as a philanthropic specialist, Susan Head \u201975 MA decided to turn her attention to what she is most passionate about: the arts and social justice. As a member of the College of the Arts Advisory Board and now as a new member of the Montclair State University Foundation Board, Head will focus on both, and on educating the community about the challenges faced by Montclair State students. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-montclair-state-university-donors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1109"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1123,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1109\/revisions\/1123"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}