Susan Teerink Appointed Consulting Director
for
Financial Aid Services
focusEDU is pleased and honored to announce the appointment of Susan Teerink as Consulting Director of Financial Aid Services. Susan is an accomplished higher education professional with 30 years of experience in financial aid serving in both public and private sectors of higher education, the community college, graduate, and private comprehensive university settings. In her final role, she served as associate vice provost for financial aid and enrollment services supervising multiple units including financial aid, student employment and the one-stop customer service area at Marquette University.
Career highlights include developing strategies and implementing aid leveraging decisions, earning the Certified Financial Aid Administrator (FAAC) designation, development of a one-stop customer service unit, peer reviews through the National Association of Student Financial Aid Association (NASFAA), and advocacy at the state and federal level. Susan strengths include effective leadership; creating, developing, and partnering successfully with all levels of administration and other stakeholders to implement strategies, mange change and enhance organizational performance. She lives by the phrase “compliance with compassion” to describe the careful balance aid administrators walk as they strive to serve all constituencies – the Department of Education, the institution, as well as students and families. She is a professional committed to providing quality customer service, educational access, opportunity, and success to students in a changing higher education landscape. She believes in superior customer service and has led her teams with “service to students” as their first and final thought.
Susan has held leadership positions with state and regional financial aid associations, served on the NASFAA FAFSA Simplification Implementation task force and has served as faculty at both the Midwestern Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators Summer Institute and the College Board’s Financial Aid Institute. Susan’s ability to simplify complex concepts, her direct and approachable manner, and her willingness to work collaboratively make her a sought-after colleague, speaker, and trainer.
Susan earned her Bachelor of Arts from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN and her master’s from Claremont School of Theology in Los Angeles, CA. She and her husband reside in Milwaukee, WI. They have two daughters who reside in Washington – one in the District of Columbia and the other in Spokane.
Susan is looking forward to her consulting work to assist students and the higher education community with her engagement in interim FA leadership roles; financial aid national searches for institutional leaders; assessments and evaluation of financial aid operations and structure and in mentoring roles to develop skilled financial aid leaders. You can contact Susan at http://www.focusEDUnow.com/contact-us/ She looks forward to meeting your institutional financial aid needs.
