Susan Heikkala is an accomplished real estate development executive and business leader. During her 20-year career with the Weyerhaeuser Company, she advanced from management of large scale and complex commercial development projects to divisional leadership roles. She served as Senior Vice President of the master planned community division at the subsidiary Quadrant Corporation and later, led the design of a new business undertaking–Weyerhaeuser’s China Housing Initiative–and then served as its Managing Director in Shanghai. She is recognized for her collaborative leadership skills as well as her expertise in strategic planning, project management and execution, finance, negotiation and communication.
Susan is now focused on work she is passionate about: empowering women and girls through access to education, economic opportunity and gender equity—both locally and globally. She is an active member of the Washington Women’s Foundation, which is how she was introduced to the inspiring work of Y-WE—recipient of a WWF Partner Grant in 2015. Susan is Co-Founder and former Deputy Director of Global Women—Partners in Philanthropy—an organization dedicated to building women’s philanthropy in China. Her global interests have recently taken her to Vietnam and India to meet with organizations working on issues benefiting women and girls in those countries.
She previously served as an officer and board member of the Washington State China Relations Council, Seattle Chinese Garden and Washington Chapter of the National Association for Commercial Real Estate and board member of Intiman Theater, among others. Susan holds MBA and Master of Urban Planning degrees from the University of Washington and a BA from Stanford University.