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Bio:
Susan Dawson is president of Athens Group, an employee-owned consulting firm integrating technology strategy and software solutions. She has over eighteen years? experience in strategic IT and software process consulting, as well as designing and developing technology solutions for high-tech manufacturing and engineering organizations. She has architected manufacturing systems solutions and related production process flows for eleven high technology factories. In addition, she has facilitated two major semiconductor product development groups in analyzing and optimizing their new product development process, and has provided IT planning, goals alignment, technology due diligence, project prioritization, and risk management consulting for executive teams in the semiconductor, software product, electronics, pharmaceutical, and healthcare industries. Ms. Dawson is a certified Master Instructor at Motorola University, was a faculty member at the Union Institute in Cincinnati, and has twice acted as a Lead Examiner for the Greater Austin Quality Award.
Before she became president of Athens Group, Ms. Dawson was president of Sterling Information Group, an Austin-based software and management consulting firm, and was Computer Integrated Manufacturing Manager for Motorola?s Semiconductor Product Sector.
Ms. Dawson has a BSE Cum Laude from Princeton University and an MBA in Information Systems Management from The University of Texas at Austin. She is also a graduate of the Engineering Management Institute at UT, and is an active member of both Leadership Austin and Leadership Texas. She has published technical articles for publications ranging from Information Management: Strategy, Systems and Technologies to the Journal of the American Concrete Institute, and has been featured in extended personal profiles in Texas Software News and the Austin Business Journal. In 2000 Ms. Dawson was a recipient of the Austin Profiles in Power ?Profile Leader? award. She has been named a ?Woman of Distinction? by the Lone Star Girl Scout Council and was chosen by Women in Technology International to be featured as international technology leader during their ?Women in Technology Month? series. She was chosen as the Austin Under 40 ?Austinite of the Year? for 2002. Ms. Dawson is a licensed Professional Engineer. She is blessed with a wonderful husband, Dr. Ken Mannas, and two fabulous children: Clark, 6, and Adriene, 3.
Community involvement:
Ms. Dawson acted as the 2001 Chair of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, for which she has led the Software Industry Cluster and been the Vice Chair for Economic Development. Ms. Dawson was the first software technology leader to hold the position, and was the youngest known Chair in the Chamber?s 125-year history. Among her many other community activities, she also serves on the Executive Board of the Greater Austin Chamber and Central Texas Healthcare District, as well as the Board of Directors of the UT Evening MBA program, Austin Area Research Organization (AARO), the International Partnership of Greater Austin, and Envision Central Texas. In addition, she is Vice-Chair and long-time board member of American YouthWorks, a highly successful non-profit organization and Charter School that provides education, skills, and job training opportunities for at-risk youth. Ms Dawson also serves on Advisory Boards for the Austin Idea Network, World Congress on Information Technology and the Association for Women in Technology ? Austin. She previously served on the Leadership Austin board, where she is a frequent guest speaker, and the Mayor?s Economic Development Task Force.
Person most admired:
It's pretty much impossible to narrow it down to one. Somewhere at the top of the list has to be Pat Hayes. She is an incredible business leader who inspires thousands across the community and impacts 100 times that behind the scenes; she can handle situations more difficult than most of us will ever face with honesty and grace.
Favorite book:
JUST ONE!? Ok, let's go with To Kill a Mockingbird. Beautifully written, inspired story about America's moral growth, gut-wrenching yet hopeful.
What I enjoy most about my work:
Without a doubt, the people with whom I work. The Athens Group team - and it is very much a team - is trusting, open, fun, smart, and a great bunch of people to work with. We share a common value system and like experimenting with a business model that can forge entirely new ways of doing business.
Greatest accomplishment:
Our two children: Clark, 6, and Adriene, 3. At times I think I must have had NOTHING to do with it, but they are both incredibly engaging, loving, smart, fun, spectacular kids who bring joy to my life every day.
Advances I envision in my field over the next 10 years:
The biggest changes will be in gaining the advantages of technology which permeates our work and home environments (e.g. global wireless networks) to effectively share information without compromising our security and privacy - as individuals and as a nation. It is easy to use technology in a way which could compromise our entire foundation of civil rights; it is hard to effectively implement technology and simultaneously support those rights.
Strategies to maintain balance in my life:
Don't watch TV. Seriously, I don't watch TV at all, but the point is to look at how you spend all of your time and then allocate it so that you don't spend time on things that are not really important to you. I spend time on family, community, and work. Anything else takes a back seat, including (until my kids get older) spending time on myself, my marriage, hobbies, etc.. That can be difficult, but it's a choice I have actively made because at this point in my life, family, community, and Athens Group are what's most important to me.
Advice for emerging entrepreneurs:
Know your values, write them down, and live by them. This seems obvious and simple, but many many times in starting a business you will be tested by external situations that force you to make difficult trade-offs. You must have your values to fall back on to know that what you are doing is right in the long run.
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