She challenges everything. She forgets nothing. And she makes you believe the hard thing is possible.
Susan Scott has spent three decades inside the most consequential moments of transformation in American media. At 23, she managed the explosive growth of cable television subscriptions in Georgia. At 35, she led the accelerated launch of international channels across Europe, Asia, and Latin America for Turner Broadcasting. At 40, she negotiated deals in the largest cable channel launch in history at Fox News Channel. Later, she instituted the largest subscription fee increase in The Weather Channel’s history, producing the largest EBITDA on record, and at PBS-North Carolina, reversed a seven-figure deficit into a 125% larger surplus within a 12 month period.
She has done this — repeatedly, across industries, at scale — by doing what most leaders avoid: confronting difficult truths before circumstances force the issue. And by never losing sight of the people doing the work.
Today, Susan is a is a Keynote Speaker who works with leaders and organizations at moments of inflection — when the old way no longer works, but the new way is not yet clear. Her keynotes, executive facilitation, and Jeffersonian Dinners help leaders think more clearly, speak more candidly, and move forward together.
Known for her candor, curiosity, and ability to connect seemingly unrelated ideas, Susan helps people see what they couldn’t see before.
Because transformation rarely begins with an answer.
It begins with a better question.
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What shaped me?
People often ask how I became so interested in resilience, candor, and the conversations most people would rather avoid.
The answer is that my life has given me a front-row seat to transformation—in organizations, in families, and in individuals.
I've spent more than three decades helping leaders navigate uncertainty, disruption, growth, and reinvention. Along the way, I've learned that most organizations don't suffer from a lack of intelligence. They suffer from a lack of candor. The warning signs are usually there. The difficult conversation is usually available. The challenge is finding the courage to have it before circumstances force the issue.
That belief wasn't formed in a boardroom. It was formed through lived experience.
As the sister of Stuart Scott, I watched someone I loved navigate the unimaginable with courage, humor, grace, and fierce intentionality. His public battle with cancer taught millions about resilience. Watching it up close taught me something even more personal: resilience is not inspiration. It is practice. It is a choice made repeatedly when there are easier alternatives.
That lesson has continued to shape both my life and my work.
I am also the mother of two extraordinary daughters who have built lives very different from my own. One works in healthcare. The other lives and teaches in Seoul, South Korea. Watching them navigate adulthood, uncertainty, opportunity, and growth has reinforced my belief that leadership is rarely about having the answers. More often, it is about creating the conditions that allow people to discover their own.
Outside of work, I am a longtime practitioner of 26-and-2 hot yoga. Few experiences have taught me more about resilience. In a heated room, there is no shortcut around discomfort. You learn to focus, breathe, adapt, and stay present even when your instincts tell you to quit. Leadership often requires the same discipline.
I am also deeply influenced by the principles of Original Strength—the idea that human beings are often strongest when we return to foundational practices: breathing, movement, connection, recovery, and presence. The longer I lead, the more convinced I become that organizations aren't very different. When teams lose their footing, the solution is rarely more complexity. It is often a return to fundamentals.
People who have worked with me frequently describe me as both candid and deeply invested. They tell me I'm the person who will challenge an assumption, ask the uncomfortable question, connect seemingly unrelated ideas, and somehow remember your name, your story, and what you're carrying long after everyone else has moved on.
I take that as one of the highest compliments I can receive.
Because despite a career spent launching networks, negotiating complex deals, leading organizations, reversing deficits, and guiding change, I've never been particularly interested in transactions.
I've always been interested in people.
Their stories.
Their potential.
Their capacity to surprise themselves.
Today, whether I'm speaking from a keynote stage, facilitating an executive retreat, or gathering leaders around a Jeffersonian dinner table, I'm still guided by the same belief:
TRANSFORMATION RARELY BEGINS WITH AN ANSWER.
IT BEGINS WHEN SOMEONE IS WILLING TO ASK A BETTER QUESTION.
If you’re curious how that philosophy was forged over three decades of leading through change, the highlights are below.
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Susan Scott is a media executive, growth strategist, keynote speaker, and facilitator whose career has spanned some of the most consequential periods of change in the communications and media industries.
A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in political science, Susan has built her career at the intersection of leadership, strategy, revenue growth, culture, and transformation. Her professional experience includes senior leadership roles with Turner Broadcasting, Fox News Channel, Comcast, The Weather Channel, PBS North Carolina, and the Public Television Major Market Group (PTMMG), where she led governance transformation and strategic initiatives on behalf of major-market public television stations serving the majority of American households.
Throughout her career, Susan has been entrusted with opportunities that required both strategic vision and operational execution. At Turner Broadcasting, she helped lead the international launch and expansion of networks across Europe, Asia, and Latin America, generating more than $175 million in enterprise value. At Fox News Channel, she participated in the largest cable channel launch in history. At The Weather Channel, she led the largest subscription fee increase in the organization’s history, contributing to record EBITDA performance. At PBS North Carolina, she helped reverse a seven-figure deficit into a significantly stronger financial position while leading fundraising, sponsorship, membership, grantmaking, and major-gift strategies that increased revenue by more than 30 percent over three years.
Known for her ability to navigate complexity, Susan has spent decades helping organizations identify emerging challenges, build coalitions among diverse stakeholders, and move confidently through periods of disruption and change. Her leadership experience spans media, philanthropy, governance, fundraising, membership organizations, strategic partnerships, public policy, and executive facilitation.
Beyond her executive leadership roles, Susan serves as a coach and advisor to mission-driven organizations and digital publishers seeking sustainable growth strategies. She has worked with organizations including Capital B, Block Club Chicago, Maine Trust for Local News, and The Atlanta Voice through the Google News Initiative. She is also a frequent moderator, interviewer, and facilitator, leading conversations with authors, executives, civic leaders, and changemakers across the country.
Susan serves on the advisory board of the UNC-Chapel Hill Institute for the Arts and Humanities and has contributed her leadership to numerous nonprofit and civic organizations. Her service has included the V Foundation’s Don’t Ever Give Up board, The Carolina Theatre, Beautiful Together Animal Sanctuary, Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina, and the Durham Sports Commission.
Today, Susan brings the lessons of three decades of leadership to keynote stages, boardrooms, executive retreats, and Jeffersonian dinner tables. Whether speaking about resilience, organizational culture, leadership, strategic foresight, or the conversations that shape the future, she helps audiences think more clearly, communicate more candidly, and move forward with greater confidence and conviction.
What People Are Saying
“Susan is an outstanding thought partner to CEOs. She helps leaders identify the signals in the noise, articulate a vision, and own the boardroom or stage.”
Lindsay Bierman, CEO, Exploratorium
“Susan has a gift for facilitating conversations that elevate the work itself. Whether on a stage or in a room of decision-makers, she draws out what matters most and helps audiences arrive at insights they didn’t know they were ready for.
She combines her exceptional communications skills and experiences with a rare ability to translate complex ideas for diverse audiences in ways that feel accessible and meaningful. She is deeply attuned to culture, brings tremendous energy and enthusiasm to every endeavor, and is not only extraordinarily smart, but also a genuine joy to partner with.”
Lynn Waymer, Vice President, KPJR Films, Social Impact Consultant
“Susan is the sharpest person in the room and the one who remembers your name, your story, and what you’re up against. She brings brilliance and humanity to her audiences and the kind of executive perspective that doesn’t just inspire - it equips. Each time she’s spoken to my business students at UNC, they’ve walked away with actionable insights they could apply immediately. That is a rare gift on any stage.”
Bernard Bell, Executive Director, UNC Shuford Program in Entrepreneurship
“Susan is a galvanizing speaker. I witnessed this firsthand when she addressed the entire staff team at The V Foundation for Cancer Research. She did something that created meaningful outcomes - she reconnected an already high-performing group to the deeper meaning of their work, with an energy and interactivity that left people genuinely inspired. She’s the speaker you want when the stakes are real and the room needs to leave fired up.”
Shane Jacobson, CEO, American Cancer Society
“For Jeffersonian Dinners, Susan’s gift is not simply facilitating conversation. It is creating the conditions for conversations that would not otherwise happen. Around her table, accomplished people move beyond networking, beyond performance, and beyond the predictable exchange of ideas. What emerges is rare: candor, curiosity, intellectual rigor, and genuine human connection. Months later, people still talk about the question, the conversation, and what they discovered about themselves and one another.”
Nadira Hira, Co-Founder, Vert & Vogue