Susan Madon, MBA, CFRE

CEO and Founder

At 40, after graduating on a scholarship from the Columbia Business School Executive MBA program, Susan was at a crossroads in her life. After a varied career in nonprofit leadership and education, she considered changing to the corporate finance sector but quickly realized her heart was firmly in helping mission-driven organizations succeed. In 2008, she founded Minerva Nonprofit Management as a generalist firm to help small to mid-sized nonprofits gain the resources they needed to ensure stability.

Through word of mouth, she built her practice and was feeling very proud of securing a major contract when her husband was posted to Hong Kong.  Living in Asia for seven years, was one of the most vigorous experiences personally and professionally.  Working across cultures in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Singapore, Indonesia, and India was exciting and challenging.

Susan grew her Asian practice by working with such organizations as the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, the Cathay Pacific Flight Attendants Union, St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, and Helpers for Domestic Helpers. While in Hong Kong she served as Executive Director of the Hong Kong and South China Office of Global Strategic and Global Initiatives of the University of Southern California during the university’s record-setting $6B capital campaign.

Returning to New York, in 2016 Susan became involved with a variety of projects in education, the arts, cultural diversity, poverty alleviation, and women and girls empowerment. Her clients included Champions for Quality Education, Believe and Inspire, The Sheen Center for Thought and Culture, YWCA-NYC, The HOPE Program, Cathedral High School, and Social Creatives.

Prior to forming Minerva, she held leadership positions at the French Institute-Alliance Française in New York, The Archdiocese of New York, The Berkshire Museum, and the American Heart Association.

Susan holds an M.B.A. from Columbia University, a B.A. in Theatre from Jacksonville University and maintains the Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) designation. She serves on the board of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, NYC Chapter and Champions for Quality Education. She is also an adjunct faculty member at Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. She is the author of a light suspense novel on fundraising entitled, The Disappearing Donor. More about the book may be found on Amazon.