Susan has worked at NYSDA since 2007. After working as a NYSDA staff attorney for several years, she became Special Counsel, was appointed Deputy Director in July 2017, and became Executive Director in May 2019. As Executive Director, she manages the operations of the Association, the Public Defense Backup Center, the Veterans Defense Program, and NYSDA's special projects. NYSDA’s mission is to improve the quality and scope of public defense representation (criminal & family court) in New York State. She is a member of the NYS OCA Supreme & County Court (Criminal) E-Filing Advisory Committee, the state Bail Reform Implementation Task Force, and the Criminal Defense Advisory Group and Appellate Defender Council for the NYS Office of Indigent Legal Services, and served on the NYS Judiciary’s Task Force for Voluntary Reform of Justice Courts (2012-2015). In 2012, she received the Kevin M. Andersen Award from the Genesee County Public Defender’s Office.
She received her J.D. from St. John’s University School of Law and an M.S. in Information Science from the University at Albany.
Before joining NYSDA, she clerked for the then-Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut, worked as an honors program attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, and was in private practice.