00:00:09:05 - 00:00:40:27
Bridget Anthony
Welcome back to the Providence College Podcast. I'm your host Bridget Anthony from the class of 2022, joined by our producer Chris Judge from the class of 2005. Today, we're excited to be joined by Susan Esper, a Providence College alum from the class of 1991 and the current chair of the college's board of trustees. As we kick off Women's History Month, this felt like the perfect moment to sit down with Susan to talk about her journey from her time as a friar to her professional career, to her leadership and service to Providence College.

00:00:40:29 - 00:00:51:28
Bridget Anthony
In this conversation, we'll talk about her path, what leadership has looked like along the way, and what continues to inspire her about the future of PC. Susan, thank you so much for being here with us.

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Susan Esper
Pleasure. Thank you, Bridget, for having me. This is awesome.

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Bridget Anthony
I'm so excited. So let's jump right in and get started. Can you tell us a little

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Bridget Anthony
bit about your connection to PC, how you ended up here, and what that means to you?

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Susan Esper
The first time I set Camp Foot on campus, at Providence was fall of 1986. I was applying for colleges, and my mom was so great. Took us, you know, went to the tours, went to mass, went to Boston College, went to Stonehill, went to Provence cause my mom was very focused on PC. She she loved it. She knew of some friends that their kids went here.

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Susan Esper
And I was all focused on Boston College. That was what I was all about BC and we came on. The campus is a beautiful fall day and something clicked for me. There was a sense of community, a sense of belonging. And so it was really the first time that I really thought seriously, like, wow, I belong here. What helped was when I applied and got accepted that I got a little bit of a scholarship and also got invited to be in the Liberal Arts honors program, which really showed me that providence, that something special in me, that they would include me in that

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Susan Esper
program.

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Susan Esper
And, the rest is history. I had of accepting it back. And to this day, my, my mom or my mom would tell the story, that while I was on my tour, she went over to the grotto and said a few Hail Marys that, you know, please send a sign that says, and we'll go to Providence. So when the acceptance came with scholarship

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Susan Esper
money and the invitation, I think that was her way of, you know, thank you.

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Susan Esper
My mom wanted me to go here, but never wanted me to figure it out on my own. So. So here I am all these years later, I.

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Bridget Anthony
Feel like a lot of PC

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Bridget Anthony
students have that same experience. They come to campus, they step on campus, and they just know it's just something of like special.

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Susan Esper
And it feels like home every time I drive on to campus. It's exactly right, Bridget. It feels like I'm home. And,

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Susan Esper
it's it's again, it's just it's tremendous. Tremendous.

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Bridget Anthony
Love it. I had the same experience.

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Bridget Anthony
I wasn't looking at BC, but I was looking at anything. But because I'm a fourth generation friar. So I was like,

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Bridget Anthony
I don't want to.

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Susan Esper
Oh, boy.

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Bridget Anthony
Follow in the footsteps. I want to make my own path. And we were on our way home from a different college tour, stopped here, and I had that same experience. Yeah. And I just knew and never looked back.

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Susan Esper
Yeah. So. And here we both are.

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Bridget Anthony
Exactly what I guess when you think back on your time at PC, what stands out to you most now?

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Susan Esper
You know, certainly the

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Susan Esper
connections, the, the the experiences. You know, it's funny Huxley I have is no longer here, but how many nights when I come into that rotary, every time I think about the number of nights I spent walking down that road that's no longer here. But but there's just so many, just so many tremendous memories.

00:03:28:29 - 00:03:48:09
Susan Esper
My accounting professors, are a highlight. They were my first mentors, and they were, showed me, introduced me to what eventually became my career in business as an accounting accountant. And again, I had no idea what to expect. And, they were they were just extraordinary. The whole department back in the day, I mentioned the Arts Honors program,

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Susan Esper
the bronze honors program, doctor Grace of Doctor Dallas, and, doctor Grace is here with us.

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Susan Esper
Doctor Del Santo, sadly, is is as passed away. But,

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Susan Esper
again, being part of that liberal arts honors program was it was so hard and I, you know, I remember thinking, oh my gosh, how am I going to get through this successfully at my very first paper? The very first paper I wrote, I got to see that I was devastated.

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Susan Esper
I'd never gotten to be blessed. And, but but over time, I learned what they were trying to bring out of me, which was thinking and challenging myself and writing. And those are skills that have, been so foundational to my career. So, you know, when I think about all the gifts that Providence gave me,

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Susan Esper
the people, the lessons, the education, all of it is just, again, it's it's so core to who I am.

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Susan Esper
And, again, every time I come

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Susan Esper
on campus, no matter where I look, there's a memory or a vision or a, you know, it's like a movie. When a montage is playing in someone's head, you know, you know, it's really it's really awesome.

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Bridget Anthony
So. Yeah, I love it.

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Bridget Anthony
Walk us through your career path after graduation. Was this something that you always envisioned?

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Susan Esper
No. Actually,

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Susan Esper
I, I don't know what I envisioned. I, I, I loved being up at Providence, and what Providence showed me was the opportunity for, to challenge myself, to set goals, to, you know, to push myself, to set the bar high for myself and,

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Susan Esper
you know, excel in the classroom, Excel when I got my internships and and then the people.

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Susan Esper
And so, as I was leaving the campus and looking for where I would start my career, when I, when I interviewed at Deloitte, I felt that same sense of, you know, high expectations, setting the bar high for yourself, excellence. The people I met, I loved, the, the, the opportunity that I was presented with. And so, you know, to be surrounded to started to go to Providence College and spend my career at Deloitte, which I did not.

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Susan Esper
So who knew I would spend? I'll be there 35 years in September. Thank you, I would I would have never imagined, but yeah, but the commonality between my family and my Deloitte family is that support that, there on the good days, there on the challenging days, you know, cheering me on when I've been unsuccessful in providing that opportunity.

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Susan Esper
So, you know, if you follow your passion and you, bring along a lot of great people along the journey, that's the recipe for success. And that's what I found here at Pepsi. And that's what I found have found at Deloitte.

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Bridget Anthony
You spent much of your career living and working in Boston. What did that environment teach you about leadership and ambition so much?

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Susan Esper
You know, coming from Providence and Boston seemed so much bigger. And actually, Boston is one of the largest cities, and it's a large city, but it's actually a really small town. Particularly I feel like it's particularly in the business community. And so I was fortunate when I started my career at Deloitte, fortunate to work with and our financial services industry practice.

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Susan Esper
That's where I began serving clients. And so when you, the financial services industry in Boston is so booming and so dynamic, and I've spent my whole career serving the best clients, meeting again, wonderful people, tough clients at times, but incredibly appreciative for the work and for my firm and for my work. And so, you know, that was, again, another tremendous opportunity, but also the community itself.

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Susan Esper
So beyond the clients I served, I worked and a couple of mentors who were very focused on paying forward their

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Susan Esper
success into the community. So they were involved in not for profit organizations,

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Susan Esper
trade organizations like the chamber. So early in my career, I was introduced to the importance of building relationships in the marketplace, in the community, in the business community.

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Susan Esper
And as I was growing up and progressing through my career, those relationships were so important. It was, opportunities to bring a new clients to the farm. It was opportunities to expand my network or, to help someone who's, you know, was looking for a new opportunity and say, oh, do you know someone? So and so having that community network, that business community network was so foundational and integral to my success at Deloitte.

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Susan Esper
And in turn, it really inspired for the work that I do in the community. So, you know, beyond what I do here

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Susan Esper
at Providence on the board of Trustees, I've had the privilege of being involved with the chamber, on the chamber, the Boston Chambers Board of Mass, Bay board. I chaired that board. Those experiences and those leadership experiences

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Susan Esper
in the not for profit community space teach you so much that, again, is accretive to what I'm doing in the business world and how I was serving my client.

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Susan Esper
So it it's been a great place to call home and work, for all these years. And really just have so much gratitude for the relationships and the network that I've been able to establish there.

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Bridget Anthony
That's

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Bridget Anthony
amazing. It kind of sounds like your business community is a little parallel to the friar family.

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Susan Esper
Absolutely.

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Bridget Anthony
It sounds like you're describing the friar originally up in Boston.

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Susan Esper
You you had it. It's it's it's it took the snow globe that I live. Yeah. I always think a PC as a snow globe. Yeah.

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Bridget Anthony
You know, the yellow snow.

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Susan Esper
Globe where everyone's doing their thing, and yet everyone's just moving merrily along and living their best life. And. And now that snow globe became bigger in Boston for me. And, at one point when our offices were in back Bay. So our offices in back Bay

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Susan Esper
and one of my clients was in Copley in the present. Okay. And, and then I'm also a member of University Club.

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Susan Esper
And so my whole world was, you know, like a triangle between these three locations. And it was a snow globe. And I again, listen, plenty of challenges. We can talk about those. It wasn't it wasn't all perfect and glamor all the time and roses and daisies, but, a lot of hard work, a lot of ups and downs and all those years, but really an extraordinary place to, to be.

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Susan Esper
And you're right, you're you're spot on with the analogy to, just a bigger version of, Friar.

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Bridget Anthony
Town version of it.

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Susan Esper
Yeah, I love it. Great analogy.

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Bridget Anthony
Were

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Bridget Anthony
there any role models or mentors along the way who really shaped how you lead today?

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Susan Esper
For sure.

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Susan Esper
Oh, gosh. Many, many. I could spend the whole time talking about the lessons I've learned from my mentors. Starting with my mom. You know, just so blessed to have a mom who was ahead of her time and, raising daughters to be independent, strong,

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Susan Esper
resilient, courageous, fierce women, who, you know, she worked hard.

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Susan Esper
She and my dad worked hard, but my mom was really the,

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Susan Esper
the matriarch and the the engine in the family that, not only inspired us to get the education, but then, you know, choose the profession. In her day, she had two choices. She would say to me, I could be a nurse or a teacher. My grandfather said to her, you got 1 or 2 choices.

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Bridget Anthony
I've heard that she and my grandmother.

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Susan Esper
Think root, right. This is all they had. And she went, it wasn't going to pay for her to go to four years of college, and even getting the three years for her, and was, you know, was a big deal. And, so she would always say, you know, I was just a nurse. Just a nurse. And how come, mom, are you kidding?

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Susan Esper
Like, you know, nurses good board that this is this is, you know, it was it was an incredible profession for her. And and she was home when we were younger, so, we were

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Susan Esper
she was home for us and then eventually went back part time on the weekends as we got a little older. And then when we all left the house.

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Susan Esper
So she taught me so many lessons

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Susan Esper
about, just to keep moving, you know, I would call my mom some days. I say, mom, you know, one of those days and and she she listened to me for a minute or two and, you know, give me the oh, says, oh, honey, I'm sorry. And then she'd say, you know, okay, put your big girl pants on and, and, keep moving.

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Susan Esper
And so keep moving. Keep moving was my mother's motto. I mentioned, my accounting professors.

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Susan Esper
So, and then Kelly, rest in peace. And isn't one of us anymore, but, Tricia Mandel's Liston, you know, Carol Hartley, they were ahead of their time. And again, they had all been in public accounting and came to see they were teaching, juggling their families, and they showed us the

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Susan Esper
students what the opportunities were going to be.

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Susan Esper
They prepared us not just in the classroom, but, you know, how to interview. Yeah. What how to once you got the job, once you got the internship, how you should show up. I can hear them talking about, you know, take out the three hearings and put one in. You know what?

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Bridget Anthony
The real world stories, right outside of her battle.

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Susan Esper
And she was it was exactly rich. And it was

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Susan Esper
really, And they were they believed in us and they encouraged us and they they were again, my first mentors. And by the way, rock star

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Susan Esper
women. And to this day, I stay in touch with them.

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Susan Esper
have a Deloitte. I've had countless mentors. And you know, as you're going through your career, there are people that will come in and out of your life at a time. And there's,

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Susan Esper
you know, a way that you work together or help that they provide you, and then maybe they move on or you move on.

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Susan Esper
But, but there were a few in particular a few. And by the way, man, they were ahead of their time and finding talent in a, you know, the diamond in the rough of a, you know, hardworking, fast talking, energetic. Yeah. Accountant. And they took an interest in me and supported me. And that was, you know, they provided me opportunities and they were more models for you know, the way I learned my profession, how to talk with clients, how to, how to have conversations with clients, how to prioritize my work, how to,

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Susan Esper
set expectations for myself, how to teach other people.

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Susan Esper
They were incredibly, wonderful about pinks. Again, I mentioned earlier, I was talking about the business community, how you pay forward your success from your service. So I learned from them the importance of paying forward. Yeah. You know, all the success that I had had and they were my biggest cheerleaders.

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Susan Esper
Again, on the good days, on the tough days, they gave me straight feedback.

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Susan Esper
There were days that I would leave a meeting. I say to my mentors, one in particular, and say, how'd I do? I did him well. I was a fast talker. Yeah, I still have a fast talk. And he would always coach me. He'd say, Susan, you know, when you're in the meeting with the client, you're in the boardroom slow.

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Bridget Anthony
Take a breath.

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Susan Esper
Take a breath. And we would leave a meeting and I'd say, how'd I do? I was slow, right? And I say, no, I say no, I really feel like I. I was slow this time. He'd say, no.

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Bridget Anthony
You're slow. It is not.

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Susan Esper
That slow to your slow is everybody else's, you know. So he'd say, and then he'd say, are you gonna argue with me about the feedback? I've asked for feedback, right? I'm giving you the feedback. I'm telling you. So you receive that so I could. I'm gracious grateful for what

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Susan Esper
they the time that they instilled in me. And, it's one thing today is I now am in their shoes.

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Susan Esper
They're all retired. And I'm the person that's been around the block.

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Bridget Anthony
The longest. You know, the mentor.

00:14:14:14 - 00:14:21:26
Susan Esper
I'm the mentor. And I will mentor anybody day or night. I mean, I'm again, I've been given so much and it's on me to to really to really pay that forward.

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Bridget Anthony
So yes, I love

00:14:23:10 - 00:14:34:29
Bridget Anthony
it. So we're going to talk about the board a little bit. For the listeners who may not know, what does the Providence College Board chair do on a day to day?

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Susan Esper
It sounds like a they do a lot. So, and you say day to day. So I should mention that, you know, I, I'm a partner at Deloitte, so there's a, there's a day job there for me on the board. But being the board chair. So I'm effectively I'm the leader of the board.

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Susan Esper
So the board of trustees of any entity.

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Susan Esper
But, you know, higher ed Providence College is, is a group of, of leaders of, fiduciaries, who have a responsibility to oversee the college. Their their responsibility is to, understand the priorities, the the strategic priorities of the college, the goals of the college, the mission of the college, and hold the president and all of the cabinet, the administration, accountable for living up to that mission, living up to those strategic priorities.

00:15:20:20 - 00:15:32:01
Susan Esper
And so it's, as the chair of the board, you're the leader, effectively, of that group. And day to day, my role is to, you know, one build the very, solid, trusting

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Susan Esper
relationship with, with, with is the card is the president. He and I talk a lot and, but as I'm an advisor, I'm not management of the college.

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Susan Esper
I'm not the president. I'm not on the

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Susan Esper
cabinet. But my role is to, you know, advise him, help him think through things that he's looking for, advice for. I talk with my trustees. I ask their opinions, I solicit their input, and, you know, again, come back to Ken with Father Ken with the best thinking and the best advice, that we can that we can give him.

00:16:01:25 - 00:16:10:29
Susan Esper
And so, you know, more broadly, the board has oversight, for beyond the strategic planning process, the financial stewardship

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Susan Esper
of the college. So, all the numbers, the compliance, the rules and regulations that that the college has to abide by, human resource and other aspects, talent. So, you know, the board's role, again, though, is to oversee how the college is doing in those areas,

00:16:25:20 - 00:16:28:11
Susan Esper
not to not to be in the weeds and not to be managing it.

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Bridget Anthony
Right and

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Bridget Anthony
What has surprised

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Bridget Anthony
you most about serving on the board?

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Susan Esper
You know, Bridget, a lot of people ask me that. A lot of people have asked me that question. What surprised me? Yes, I and just recently, a few weeks ago, I was talking to someone that didn't

00:16:42:01 - 00:16:47:12
Susan Esper
know I was now the chair, and she said, what a surprise to you. And I said, I'll say what I said to her.

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Susan Esper
I said, you

00:16:47:29 - 00:17:06:21
Susan Esper
know, not really anything. There's nothing that I was like, what? You know, I don't understand this. You know, I had been vice chair for six years. I'd been on the board for ten years. So, you know, I had a front row seat and increasingly, you know, front row seat, to the day to day operations.

00:17:06:21 - 00:17:26:20
Susan Esper
And we had also navigated through some pretty difficult times, most notably the pandemic. You know, when you think of the headwinds and challenges that have faced us, which is always going to be the case, you know, it's never perfect and there's always going to be things, problems to solve. So, there's nothing that really surprised me. And if anything, I won't say it's a surprise.

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Susan Esper
I think I knew what, but maybe I didn't know the intensity or level of it is the passion that all friars have for private schools. I mean,

00:17:34:27 - 00:17:43:07
Susan Esper
again, I know that, you know, when you're in the airport, you've got a hat on it. Yes, we hear you, you know, a sticker on your bag or something and you hear it go, friars, you know, from across the.

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Bridget Anthony
Street you're like, oh my God, that's right.

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Susan Esper
So so

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Susan Esper
that I knew. But, you know, as we are as a board and as we are faced with, again, a number of opportunities, but also number of challenges, you know, people call you, they reach out to you and they are pretty, pretty serious and pretty passionate about their opinions. And I don't take that as, you know, criticism.

00:18:01:23 - 00:18:21:17
Susan Esper
I don't take it as, you know, mind your business. I take it as, wow, you really care about this place that gave us, each of us so much. We all have our PC story. We're always have such a care for for our town. So every person that reaches out, it's because they're so beloved. And and so that's the lens I always try to, you know, process that feedback through.

00:18:21:17 - 00:18:36:29
Susan Esper
But yeah, so not really a surprise, but just the, the intensity of the passion for wanting the best, you know, for the college and for all of our students. So ultimately, anything we're all doing at PC is, is for our students. Yeah. At the end of the day. Yeah.

00:18:36:29 - 00:18:39:02
Bridget Anthony
Enriching their experience and trying

00:18:39:04 - 00:18:40:12
Bridget Anthony
to make it just as good as ours.

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Susan Esper
Yeah. Well and living their best life I mean, I hope you're, I hope since you graduated, you're living your best life. I feel like I've been living my best life. And if every one of our students, could

00:18:49:22 - 00:18:58:23
Susan Esper
do that, I know that's part of Father Ken's vision is, you know, if every student could live their best life, grounded in what they took away from for years, then we've done our job.

00:18:58:25 - 00:19:01:04
Susan Esper
Exactly. No job.

00:19:01:06 - 00:19:11:25
Bridget Anthony
Okay. You are the first woman to serve as chair of the board of trustees. What does that milestone mean to you personally?

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Susan Esper
It's. It means a lot. It means a lot. I'm one of three girls, so I'm in the middle. I have an older sister and a younger sister. So again, girls, I

00:19:20:29 - 00:19:22:07
Susan Esper
know girls. I.

00:19:22:10 - 00:19:23:11
Bridget Anthony
Do have two.

00:19:23:13 - 00:19:35:27
Susan Esper
Daughters. I have two girls. Have, no matter how old they get, they're my girls. So, both of them, friars, class of 19 and class of, 22, undergrad, 23 grad. If I don't say the 23 grad, that's super

00:19:36:00 - 00:19:38:23
Susan Esper
important, right? It did get two degrees.

00:19:38:23 - 00:19:39:16
Bridget Anthony
We both got our.

00:19:39:21 - 00:19:40:22
Susan Esper
Yeah, that's right, 22.

00:19:40:22 - 00:19:41:23
Bridget Anthony
To 33 as.

00:19:41:23 - 00:19:42:26
Susan Esper
Well. Okay. So,

00:19:42:28 - 00:20:05:13
Susan Esper
so just from that lens alone to have this moment where, you know, the hard work, the contributions, the impact that I've been able to make as a trustee that you make when you make as a trustee, it's it's a servant role. You are here for service to the college and you are here for service, to Father Ken and to the cabinet, the leadership.

00:20:05:15 - 00:20:21:16
Susan Esper
We are we're all servants, and we're here for that purpose. And so you don't you don't come on a board of trustees. I certainly I haven't done that. You know, but you don't to to aspire the way that you do in your career. When I was at Deloitte, you're aspiring to things and you're growing and learning because you're getting to other levels.

00:20:21:18 - 00:20:44:13
Susan Esper
So as you grow and learn on the board, and when you start to realize or people tell you that you have skills and experiences and ways that you collaborate and leadership, you know, a leadership style that will be effective as the board chair again, the leader of the group, it's incredibly humbling. It's incredibly, you know, you know, daunting as well.

00:20:44:13 - 00:20:47:16
Susan Esper
And then, by the way, when you say, oh, you know, there hasn't been a

00:20:47:20 - 00:20:59:22
Susan Esper
woman that has done this, you know, in this world. And, Bridget, I'm sure you find this as well. And when I oh, my years at Deloitte, I mean, when you are anything you don't want, you want to be recognized and given opportunities for for your hard work.

00:20:59:22 - 00:21:04:06
Susan Esper
That's it. But by the way, when you are the first of whatever,

00:21:04:09 - 00:21:34:28
Susan Esper
it's it's an honor. And you, you can't be the last. And also you have to, use that opportunity to open doors and show others what's possible. There's a lot of metrics and statistics and and stories or anecdotes about, you know, when you talk to young students, young people, anybody, when they look to see what's possible for them in life, if they can't see themselves, someone who's their gender or someone who has their skin color, someone who has their background, someone who pick whatever characteristic matters to them and how they identify.

00:21:35:01 - 00:21:52:13
Susan Esper
Yeah, if you can't, if they can't see that, do you necessarily know that it can be possible for you? But it's I mean, it can't, but I'm very cognizant the fact that for other women, for any women that any time because by the way, throughout my career, I've been the first a lot of times, in many ways.

00:21:52:13 - 00:22:11:05
Susan Esper
And so any time I was a first, I was super mindful of that. People were watching, and I needed to make sure that I was, again, doing the best I could with what I had and setting an example and also opening the door and pulling other people forward. Anybody, but particularly in my

00:22:11:06 - 00:22:13:09
Susan Esper
case, other women. Key.

00:22:13:11 - 00:22:14:22
Bridget Anthony
Amazing key.

00:22:14:25 - 00:22:25:12
Bridget Anthony
So you've kind of answered this a little bit already, but as we kick off Women's History Month, what does it mean to you to hold this role at this moment in time?

00:22:25:14 - 00:22:36:24
Susan Esper
Well, we're it's awesome that we have Women's History Month because it's all about celebrating, taking a moment to celebrate the impact, that women have on every aspect of society.

00:22:36:25 - 00:22:46:25
Susan Esper
So there's that. There is extraordinary impact. And of so many women and so many women who don't get recognized or celebrated. And by the way, again, not everyone does stuff with like celebrated and acknowledged.

00:22:46:25 - 00:23:05:25
Susan Esper
But it's such a great time to do that. And so, yeah. So as the, as the board of the trustees, I happen to be a woman. It's Women's History Month. It's all coming together. I would say, you know, I would like to, to shoutout, to my other trustees, to the other trustees, you know, our board currently, the number of women on the Providence, of lay

00:23:06:01 - 00:23:10:08
Susan Esper
trustees to get our, our board has lay trustees which are non Dominicans.

00:23:10:08 - 00:23:28:29
Susan Esper
And then we have a number of Dominicans on the board. So so for the non, for the lay trustees, we're currently at about 30% of our lay trustees are women. That's up just in the last couple of years from about 20% or just shy of 20%. So just the progress we're making in terms of having an an inclusive,

00:23:29:02 - 00:23:30:13
Susan Esper
diverse perspective.

00:23:30:13 - 00:23:51:19
Susan Esper
And it's not just about numbers and metrics. We're not counting, but, diversity of any type — when you have a range of perspectives, a range of experiences, a range of skills, that is bringing the best thinking to the college, to Father Ken when we're solving these challenges. And so the range of diversity we have in the board isn't just about gender

00:23:51:22 - 00:23:52:15
Susan Esper
or ethnicity.

00:23:52:15 - 00:24:03:00
Susan Esper
It's, it's, it's about, you know, geography. How do we get people from certain parts of the country? It's about generations. We have a lot of trustees from the Class of 80 and 90s and

00:24:03:04 - 00:24:24:04
Susan Esper
early 2000s. You know, before that as well. So how do you bring a range of perspectives generationally? So, so really proud of that. And as it was, we come into this Women's History Month, I'm just particularly proud of, again, the range of diversity that we have had, that we focus on and, and just a shout out to, you know, all my other fellow women trustees who, if I could have them all here today, would have been amazing.

00:24:24:11 - 00:24:40:21
Susan Esper
Because we have some really extraordinarily, talented women that, are the heads of their professions, you know, that leading things, making impact that are on our board. So shoutout to them. I guess it gives me a chance to give them a shoutout and thank them for what they do. day in and day out.

00:24:40:21 - 00:24:42:07
Bridget Anthony
So we do have amazing board.

00:24:42:09 - 00:24:44:03
Susan Esper
We do have an extraordinary board.

00:24:44:03 - 00:24:46:24
Bridget Anthony
Glad to hear 30% is woman. That's amazing.

00:24:46:26 - 00:24:47:16
Susan Esper
Yeah.

00:24:47:19 - 00:24:54:01
Bridget Anthony
What has been one of the most rewarding moments of your service to pieces so far?

00:24:54:03 - 00:25:15:07
Susan Esper
Wow. That's that's, it's a lot of years. A lot of things to think about it. You know, I would say the most at the moment, the highlight for me and just. And again, service ranges, service is the time you give. It's the treasure you give. It's there's a range of ways, right. You can measure how you get back and how we get back to the college.

00:25:15:07 - 00:25:22:01
Susan Esper
But for me, what I'm most proud of and most touched by is, about a year ago at this time, we,

00:25:22:04 - 00:25:33:06
Susan Esper
my family, had dedicate or we it's now been dedicated. But, we have an a room named for my for my mom. My mom passed away a year ago, after a very courageous battle with cancer.

00:25:33:08 - 00:25:51:09
Susan Esper
She was a nurse. And so when we built the new, the bond to her health, building for health sciences and nursing, I said to Greg Watson and Andrea, I said, I think there's an opportunity here to honor my mom. And at the time she was she was still here. So she knew the room was coming and knew that we were going to do it.

00:25:51:09 - 00:26:28:25
Susan Esper
So if you go down to the Health Sciences building on the second floor is the, the Barbara Constantine's patella, seminar room. And it's really an honor and a testament to her, as a, her 40 plus year career in nursing and the way that she, you know, the way that she lived, what our nursing school is trying to do, which is how do we treat the whole patient, how do we bring the most compassion, compassionate, and caring to patients who are not only well-educated and smart and, you know, great scholars and students, but, really, in the mission of Providence College and the service and the and servant leadership of the college

00:26:28:25 - 00:26:41:24
Susan Esper
and our mission and, so really proud of that, because that was a culmination of, you know, obviously hard work financially to be able to do that and to be able to to have a naming opportunity for my mom. But to celebrate again, I

00:26:41:24 - 00:26:48:00
Susan Esper
mentioned earlier, she's one of my most cherished mentors in my life and, her legacy and so many nurses.

00:26:48:00 - 00:26:54:11
Susan Esper
I mean, her profession is what inspired me to to to, to, you know, forge

00:26:54:14 - 00:27:17:13
Susan Esper
my way, choose my passion and, and, you know, build a career. And so, so that by far gets, high marks. Also very proud of the Providence have found that something else that I was personally involved in that was, we launched that a few years ago, and it made great impact through that fund, which is sponsoring great work of our students, some of our professors, benefiting all of our students are particularly women.

00:27:17:13 - 00:27:29:19
Susan Esper
And so that is been extraordinary. And, you know, I think all the work with the business school, I was, part of the group that was pulled together when we were first trying to get the business school accredited and

00:27:29:21 - 00:27:34:17
Susan Esper
pulled together what had to be done to get it accredited, but also a launch, our first dean of the business school.

00:27:34:17 - 00:27:46:16
Susan Esper
And so, that goes way back. But that was really how I got reengaged with the college. So when I look at the Ryan Center and see how extraordinary that is again, great memories and great feeling of of wow, that that was part of something really special. Yeah.

00:27:46:17 - 00:27:49:11
Bridget Anthony
So and it is, it's it's all of that building.

00:27:49:14 - 00:27:54:07
Susan Esper
Yeah I think of the students like to go and. Yeah. Hang and tight. Well then I will also say I, I my

00:27:54:11 - 00:27:56:24
Susan Esper
understanding is the cafeteria there are the.

00:27:56:27 - 00:27:57:29
Bridget Anthony
The beauty of the cafe.

00:27:58:00 - 00:27:59:10
Susan Esper
The cafe. They're eating street.

00:27:59:10 - 00:27:59:19
Bridget Anthony
Cafe.

00:27:59:19 - 00:28:03:00
Susan Esper
It's your cafe. I understand now that the health Sciences Cafe might

00:28:03:03 - 00:28:05:15
Susan Esper
give that one a run for its metal, but I haven't. I don't know that.

00:28:05:15 - 00:28:05:20
Bridget Anthony
Some

00:28:05:27 - 00:28:10:26
Bridget Anthony
students say I don't know. They have bowls and they have grilled chicken.

00:28:10:28 - 00:28:14:19
Susan Esper
Crusty. Let me tell you what I eat in college, okay?

00:28:14:22 - 00:28:15:02
Susan Esper
You know.

00:28:15:07 - 00:28:15:20
Bridget Anthony
Yep.

00:28:15:20 - 00:28:17:04
Susan Esper
Not quite that same caliber,

00:28:17:06 - 00:28:26:14
Susan Esper
but yeah, it's awesome. So it's, it's it's again all of these buildings, and the, you know, the passion that goes into not just the buildings and stuff, but

00:28:26:15 - 00:28:32:15
Susan Esper
what they represent is really an extraordinary part of the campus. And again, going back to what is exciting about Providence College, I agree.

00:28:32:20 - 00:28:39:21
Bridget Anthony
How do you hope that your leadership impact students, even if they never directly see your work?

00:28:39:24 - 00:28:46:00
Susan Esper
Well, for starters, though, in any given year, we have what, you know, thousands of students that come through. Right. So. So how do you impact thousands

00:28:46:01 - 00:28:54:03
Susan Esper
of students? Every year, for years and generations to come. You know, I think I mentioned earlier the role of

00:28:54:06 - 00:29:07:20
Susan Esper
the board and the role of my role as board chair is to hold other Ken and the team, accountable for the campus part and the team accountable for the execution of the strategic plan and living true to our mission.

00:29:07:20 - 00:29:30:27
Susan Esper
So that's that's foundational. So to the extent that we do that as a board and for me as board chair, as as I push our our board, push farther can and partner collaborate with him to do that. You know for sure every student I said earlier to every student is living their best life. That's top of their field because of not just the education they got, but because of the internship opportunity they got

00:29:30:29 - 00:29:37:16
Susan Esper
or the fellowship opportunity, or because their time at Providence opened a door for, you know, additional

00:29:37:18 - 00:29:39:00
Susan Esper
education, whatever they chose.

00:29:39:00 - 00:29:57:02
Susan Esper
So I think for any student who is able to do that, not just when they graduate, but throughout their career and stay connected, then our work will be done, my work will be done. And so it's probably the the way that almost. No, I know I will tell you, I feel very grateful when I come onto campus and I have

00:29:57:03 - 00:29:59:12
Susan Esper
the chance to meet with students and meet with the faculty.

00:29:59:18 - 00:30:08:03
Susan Esper
And even just through those conversations, I feel like the work that we're doing is making impact and, particularly the faculty that I love

00:30:08:04 - 00:30:25:13
Susan Esper
spending time with them, they're always so grateful to what the board does and how we contribute. And, I in turn, I'm grateful. I'm like, you're grateful that they're grateful for you. So, yeah. So it really, I think just even through those day to day conversations like that I get to have with students and faculty on campus, I, I feel the, the impact.

00:30:25:13 - 00:30:28:12
Susan Esper
And so that's another way that I know I'm more tactical I guess.

00:30:28:17 - 00:30:29:23
Bridget Anthony
Yeah. Yeah, I love it.

00:30:29:23 - 00:30:30:04
Susan Esper
Yeah.

00:30:30:06 - 00:30:35:29
Bridget Anthony
What advice would you give to current students who may not yet see a clear path forward?

00:30:36:02 - 00:30:50:26
Susan Esper
it's funny, not everyone knows what they want to do and be when they grow up. So how many people do you talk to that you know, they'll say I was, you know, 50. When I figured out what I love to do. I was 40. You know, I think there's this pressure for, you know, when you're 18 to know what you want to do and when you're 22 to know what you want to do.

00:30:50:26 - 00:31:07:21
Susan Esper
And I, and so it's hard and then it's stressful if those around you seem to know when you don't, the beauty of the world we live in now is that there are no limits on what you can do. The. So just taking a step back to first of all, have put that pressure on yourself about what do I need to be, what I want to be.

00:31:07:27 - 00:31:13:20
Susan Esper
You don't have to decide that. Right? You can you can go on the journey. I my advice would be about growing

00:31:13:22 - 00:31:26:26
Susan Esper
your network again, building that network I mentioned earlier in my network, in the Boston business community, my network through Providence College. As a Providence College student, you have access to all the friars that came before you.

00:31:26:29 - 00:31:28:19
Susan Esper
I never hear of

00:31:28:22 - 00:31:37:23
Susan Esper
a student calling an alarm saying, can I have three minutes of your time just to talk about your career, asking questions? Who has said that? You know,

00:31:37:24 - 00:31:40:17
Susan Esper
sometimes you. It leads to an interview. Sometimes it leads

00:31:40:20 - 00:31:48:18
Susan Esper
to a tour, leads to a mentoring relationship. Sure. But at a minimum, you know, use the friar network and the alumni network.

00:31:48:18 - 00:31:55:12
Susan Esper
It is so phenomenal. And that's important. We've talked about mentorship. You've got to seek out mentors. And that's again, that's

00:31:55:16 - 00:32:05:20
Susan Esper
hard because people say, oh, how do I meet someone to give me my mentor and a mentor? Relationships. Like any relationship, it takes time and you have to cultivate it. But again, that come back comes back

00:32:05:22 - 00:32:07:10
Susan Esper
to your friar community.

00:32:07:13 - 00:32:24:19
Susan Esper
There are many of our friars, and what they do that would love to have a more active mentoring relationship if you seek that out. So mentors and I would also say, I gotta go back to my mother's advice. You got to keep moving and you can't give up. If I look back over my career, there are a lot of things that went my way.

00:32:24:19 - 00:32:35:26
Susan Esper
But there's a lot of things that different. And I would tell you that didn't go my way. And I would also tell you the the best lessons I have learned, or where they didn't go my way. And

00:32:35:29 - 00:32:43:16
Susan Esper
also, there's a lot of things in my career that I thought were what I wanted to do or what I needed to be doing, and it didn't work out.

00:32:43:19 - 00:33:03:09
Susan Esper
And then when something else happened, another door opened or I wound up in another path by accident or because for whatever reason I realized after wow, that other thing that I thought was so perfect for me actually wasn't. And thank God I didn't get that, because now I'm where I'm meant to be.

00:33:03:09 - 00:33:04:29
Bridget Anthony
So easy for me to say.

00:33:05:05 - 00:33:26:21
Susan Esper
Let me to say that it does. It really does. Bridget. Everything happens for a reason. Now, easier for me to say that I'm in the back end of my career and and I've lived enough to see it work out that there was a silver lining, but but I if I, you know, our, our staff, our students should know that that there is a plan that is going to work out, but also you you got to put some out into it's not going to fall off as

00:33:26:24 - 00:33:26:28
Susan Esper
fast.

00:33:27:01 - 00:33:34:11
Susan Esper
You've got to you've got to work it. And you got to put a lot of elbow grease into it to, to make things happen for yourself. It isn't just

00:33:34:13 - 00:33:36:26
Susan Esper
going to happen for you by waiting for it to happen.

00:33:36:28 - 00:33:41:15
Bridget Anthony
If listeners take one thing away from this conversation, what do you hope that it is?

00:33:41:18 - 00:33:57:22
Susan Esper
it is great to be a friar past, present or a future. When I think about my days on campus, which is again, already, you know, a very long time ago, in the late 80s and early 90s, when I think about the campus, it's, you know, how much it's transformed.

00:33:57:22 - 00:34:22:05
Susan Esper
My my children have just been graduated in the last few years. And I think about all the things that have changed. You know, I mentioned Huxley, I was gone, the buildings, the the, the rain, the rain, you know, building the Monterey Center. There's just so much that's changed physically. But what has not changed is the things that I was talking about earlier, that our sense of community, how we take care of each other, how we look out for each other.

00:34:22:07 - 00:34:38:06
Susan Esper
That feeling you get when you're, you know, someplace and you hear it go far. I mean, it happens on the beach. I could be on a run on the beach, and I got the Friars shirt on. I could be at the gym. You know, I was in the office just yesterday. One of my colleagues is, class of, I think 20.

00:34:38:09 - 00:34:54:03
Susan Esper
I just think she's an acronym. Victorious. Maybe 20, 20, 16 or 17. But she walked in and she had her, winter hat on. It had a friar on. And I said, I just said, hey, go, Friars. So, it's just that common bond we all have. And I think, you know, whatever, wherever you are in your life.

00:34:54:03 - 00:35:09:09
Susan Esper
Again, as a student, as a recent alum, as a alum for many years, just those common bonds. And, you know, just giving back there there is every one of us. Every friar has something they can give back to the college. Not that we're saying

00:35:09:11 - 00:35:24:28
Susan Esper
you have to give something back, and but it's, you know, if you're looking to pay it forward, if you're looking to find a way to be engaged with the college, if you're looking to mentor students, if you're looking to give, if you're looking to, you know, help with, student projects or speak in a classroom like, you know, back

00:35:24:29 - 00:35:27:27
Susan Esper
to time, treasure and talent, there is something you

00:35:27:27 - 00:35:47:01
Susan Esper
have that can help make Providence College even better than it already is. And and and really, you know, help every one of our current students, live those same dreams that we've all lived. So, so figure out what that is. And that would be my my message is it's great to be a friar and if there's something you'd like to give back time, treasure, a talent, we would love to have it.

00:35:47:01 - 00:35:51:23
Susan Esper
And, you know, give us a give us a. Yeah, we'd love to have you, you know, be here. We'll be

00:35:51:25 - 00:35:53:10
Susan Esper
here. We're here waiting for you.

00:35:53:12 - 00:35:59:11
Bridget Anthony
Well, Susan, thank you so much for coming over and chatting with us today. This is a pleasure.

00:35:59:12 - 00:36:03:15
Susan Esper
My pleasure. It's been an honor. Thank you for your time. And I feel like I could talk to you for three months.

00:36:03:15 - 00:36:07:05
Bridget Anthony
I know, can we do this every week? And we have a weekly pod. She'll be back.

00:36:07:06 - 00:36:11:20
Susan Esper
Welcome back. This is wonderful. Thank you for the invitation. It's really been a gift. And, And go, friars.

00:36:11:20 - 00:36:12:19
Bridget Anthony
Go, friars.