Susan is a Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA) and completed her training with Deloitte in Dublin. She has a Bachelor of Commerce from NUI Galway, a postgraduate diploma in Women’s Studies from UL and prior to joining Carmichael Centre she completed a Political Science Masters in UCD in 2011. In 2000 Susan went to Australia and over the next two years worked for the Medical Benefits Fund of Australia, based in Sydney, for 18 months and travelled extensively. Following a short stint working back in her native Kerry she joined GOAL as a volunteer in 2003 and spent two years in the head office of GOAL Uganda, in Kampala, as Financial Controller. Susan then joined GOAL’s emergency team and over the next two years spent time in Sudan, Sri Lanka, DRC, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Niger amongst others providing technical financial support and focusing on standardising best-practice policies and procedures across all programmes. In 2007 Susan joined MAG, an international humanitarian organisation that clears landmines and other remnants of conflict around the world, as Director of Finance and spent three years based in the HQ in Manchester, UK, where she had responsibility for delivering effectual cash-flow management, handling budgets in excess of £35m, providing professional technical advice and guidance, ensuring compliance with donor and statutory regulations, devising and implementing plans to improve the sustainability and future growth of the organisation both in the UK and in 17 country programmes. During this time Susan won a Crain’s Manchester Business ’40 under 40’ Award for exceptional performance in her line of work before reaching the age of 40.