Susan J. Bethanis, Ed.D., is an Executive Leadership Coach and the CEO/Founder of Mariposa Leadership, Inc.
Sue provides executive coaching and design thinking to high-tech leaders. She is the author of the well-received business book Leadership Chronicles of a Corporate Sage (Kaplan Publishing, 2004), hosts the popular show WiseTalk, a monthly leadership forum, and WiseSpace, a Zoom coaching community.
Sue regularly facilitates strategy offsites and keynotes, and appears on podcasts addressing influence/power, change management, and innovation. Most recently, Sue has been focused on supporting executives to use a human-centered, design thinking approach to AI Adoption.
Approach + Specialties
- Energize their leadership skills that results in increased influence across the organization
- Energize their leadership teams that results in increased engagement, motivation, and productivity
- Energize their leadership creativity that results in innovative and sustainable organizational strategies, structures, and culture
Clients
Sue has coached executives in Silicon Valley and San Francisco companies and nonprofits for 30 years. Recent clients include Amazon, DataBricks, GoFundMe, Google, Intel, Intuit, Mainspring Energy, MongoDB, PayPal, and Walmart. Sample engagements include:
- CFO of a post-merger fintech company. Focus on combining a good strategic plan with strong cultural values in the first 90 days.
- VP, Product Marketing of a large tech company. Work with VP and directs to ensure humans are at the core of AI Adoption.
- CEO of a pre-IPO tech company. Work with CEO and exec team to “up their game” through better group cohesion and efficient decision-making.
Education + Certifications
- Certificate, Design Thinking and the Art of Innovation, Stanford Design School
- Ed.D., University of San Francisco; Emphasis in Organization/Leadership; Dissertation — Transforming Organizations: Understanding Relationships Among Paradigms, Language, and Action.
- M.A., Education, Stanford University; Emphasis in Instructional Design
- B.A., Psychology, Occidental College
Creative
Direct
Witty
Sue acts as Mariposa’s “Chief Creative Officer” and is known for designing experiences, services, and products that move people and “raise their game.” She regularly applies insights from design thinking, linguistics, anthropology, and athletics to her roles as manager of the Mariposa team and as a sounding board to her clients.
Sue lives in San Francisco and Kihei, Maui. When she is not coaching, you will find her playing pickleball or watching the SF Giants. She’s also a street photographer and loves some of the world’s greatest cities: Amsterdam, Berlin, Buenos Aries, Florence, Hanoi, Havana, Kyoto, Lisbon, Oslo, Porto, and Tokyo. Sue has traveled to seven Summer Olympics, including volunteering at the 1984 LA Games, and hopes to do the same for LA28.
Sue is my long-time leadership coach and was a true game-changer to whom I became as a founder and to my company’s history.