Professional Development
Susanne’s passion for well-being began with her love of physical activity.  Both her undergraduate and graduate degrees are in Exercise Science.  She has completed numerous certifications through ACSM,  NASM, ACE, AFAA, Cooper Institute, and more.  She has won numerous professional awards including All Army Best in Recreation, NASM/CUP Pursuit of Excellence, the Fitzgerald Excellence in Leadership Award and more.  She has spearheaded programs that have received awards and designations to include Europe-wide Army Best in Fitness Program, American Heart Associate Fit-Friendly Workplace, Kaiser Permanente’s Healthiest Company 2015 & 2016 and Bronze-Level Healthlead Workplace Accreditation for DPH.  She is currently pursuing her Master’s in Business Administration.

Demonstrated Successes
While at DPH, Susanne had the opportunity to spearhead their worksite wellness program.  Within the first year, she had opened an on-site employee fitness center, state of the art lactation room, implemented three healthy workplace policies and began collaboration with the University of Georgia’s Workplace Health Group on numerous pilot research projects.   Susanne’s focus was on obesity, healthy eating and physical activity, focusing on results from the state’s 2011 biometric screenings.

Susanne’s greatest successes were in developing strong physical activity programming within DPH.  Right away she was moving around conference room tables to teach numerous fitness classes to employees including yoga and kickboxing.  She developed a strong partnership with the Arthritis Foundation and their Walk With Ease program, which encouraged low-mobility movers to began exercise successfully.  As part of her plan to increase physical activity, Susanne developed a team of “wellness ambassadors” who helped carry the well-being torch.  Many of these staff were trained as group fitness instructors (funded by worksite wellness) and because of this, have been able to sustain the agency's group fitness class program, offering nearly 25 classes per week.

As part of Susanne’s projects, a lactation room, with three pumping stations, hospital grade pumps and spa-like features was built on the 2nd floor of their state office building.  All five state healthy agencies located within the building were encouraged to participate in this DPH-sponsored program.   Each new mother was given over $100 in breastfeeding supplies, including compatible pumping kits, prior to room utilization.  95% of users reported an increase in breastfeeding time, of three months or more, due to accessibility of the lactation room.

Under her leadership, various other programs were implemented including free employee CPR/AED & BLS certification classes (certifying 200+ employees), on-site healthy meal delivery, healthy eating presentations with local vendors, annual kickball tournament, employee awards program, stairwell renovation and climbing program, group fitness classes, Weight Watchers, holiday weight loss challenges, standing workstations, and more.

Susanne’s success has relied on her early utilization of WELCOA’s 7 Benchmarks when standing up the new Worksite Wellness Program. While completing these certifications, she was able to more easily identify her successes and areas that required more focus.  These 7 Benchmarks have been critical to the program’s success.  Right away Susanne harnessed the energy of the DPH Commissioner, Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, to advocate for employee health.  By “capturing CEO support,” which also included a supportive executive leadership team, healthy policies and programs were quickly and easily implemented.
Susanne also created a cohesive team by developing the Wellness Ambassador program, Wellness Steering Committee, and enlisting the help of program volunteers and university partnerships.

Leadership
What began as a single motivated employee, going desk to desk to introduce herself and find out what employees wanted, has grown into a highly decorated worksite wellness program with three full-time and two part-time employees and nearly 50+ employee volunteers throughout the state.  A robust internship program rounds out her initiative as she has utilized and trained over 20 up and coming wellness professionals by utilizing local university undergrads and graduate level students as wellness interns.

Susanne truly is a wellness leader. She has been teaching group exercise classes for nearly twenty years, she has taught several healthy lifestyle classes based on her own experience and choices.  She balances her work life with her home life of a busy single mother to three successful children.  She play the piano for her church congregation and enjoys being out on her bicycle as often as possible.

“Organizations like WELCOA have helped shape my vision and work in employee wellness, it is a valuable tool that I wish I would have been exposed to years ago.”

Innovation
Susanne’s experiences working in wellness with companies such as EXOS, Cerner, Intel, and the US Military, have driven her passion to be relevant and innovative.  Other state agencies have reached out to get assistance from DPH to develop their own employee wellness programs.  Trying to address the issue of chronic sitting within DPH, Susanne piloted a study with researchers from the University of Georgia Workplace Health Group to study 36 DPH employees who were given standing workstations.  Outcomes of the study showed a decrease in blood pressure and weight over a 90 day period.  Another 50+ standing workstations were added because of the results. Numerous other employees received physioballs to use at their desks.

In 2012, Susanne introduced Fitbits as part of her wellness program, based on her experience with the activity trackers while working for Cerner.  The ability to connect with others while tracking your own physical activity was an instant hit.  To date, nearly 300 FitBits have been provided to DPH employees free of charge.

Compelling Vision
“Helping people understand that wellness is a journey and that each day is a new day” is Susanne’s mantra in her work.  Helping companies understand the value of human capital management is an amazing opportunity for the growth of employee wellness. Susanne has started the journey of getting a second master’s degree, an MBA, to continue to understand the true cost of employee wellness.  She hopes to return to Georgia and serve the state, advocating for healthier State of Georgia employees with a focus on human capital management.