Saluting Susan Doolittle as She Prepares to Turn Over Reins

As Susan Doolittle prepares to retire as executive director of NABE after 16 years of serving as the organization’s top administrator, her fellow members pause to reflect on her many contributions and to wish her well in her new endeavors.

Adjectives most frequently employed to describe her leadership style and contributions include: calm, adept juggler of multiple tasks, unflappable, diplomatic, source of vitality, and steadfast in her support of members.  Many praised her support after the September 11 attacks that found NABE members at the World Trade Center for the group’s annual meeting.

Her successor, Tom Beers, started at NABE in mid-July as executive director-designate  and he will take over the top job when Doolittle retires at the close of the 51st Annual Meeting October 10-13 in St. Louis. 

As many have noted, the goods news is that Doolittle will remain an active member of the organization that she joined in 1979, fresh out of graduate school.  At the time she joined, she worked as an economist for Rainer National Bank in Seattle and a few years later, in 1986, she was elected to the NABE Board of Directors while working at the Port of Seattle.

Deciding it was time to have a higher profile in the nation’s capital, the NABE board agreed in the mid-1990s to relocate the organization’s headquarters from Cleveland to Washington, D.C.  Doolittle became the organization’s first executive director to head the Washington office, which opened on July 4, 1994.   She became executive director in October 1993.

What drew Doolittle to NABE initially? “The tumultuous economy,” she said.  “In the late 1970s the economy was headed into a recession accompanied by high rates of inflation.  Fresh out of graduate school, I needed to learn more from practicing business economists and did.”

“My first NABE seminar was `Wage, Price, and Credit Controls’ held on March 21, 1979, in a packed ballroom of the Los Angeles Hyatt Regency hotel,” she said.  “It was billed as `A convocation of some of the best minds in America,’ and it was!”

Tributes and Salutations

NABE President Chris Varvares lauded Doolittle for her years of “exemplary service” to the organization.  

Finding fault only in the fact that Doolittle is “exiting stage right just when I’m entering stage left as NABE’s new president,” Lynn Reaser thanked her for her service as a “truly superb NABE executive director.” 

Always available to assist the board and other members, Doolittle is a “superb juggler” of the many logistical tasks involved in planning seminars, conferences, meetings, as well as helping to prepare and edit surveys and publications to be released by NABE, Reaser pointed out. 

Here are other salutations and tributes sent to NABE:

Susan Doolittle's NABE legacy is extensive and spans several years of outstanding professional accomplishments and a contribution of vitality to our professional organization.  A diplomat with excellent organizational skills, a talent for producing results, implementing board directives, cajoling members to stay active in our professional community, and many other attributes for which she has achieved "role model status."  Shall we say "the great facilitator," with an economic intelligence to bring the best out of her NABE leaders in organizing great conferences, seminars, surveys, and a plethora of exciting initiatives—all in the great effort of making NABE a better organization for its members.  Thank you Susan! 
Ellen Hughes-Cromwick

Susan has been the backbone of NABE for as long as I have been in a leadership position. She not only picked me up when I was down, but helped to move the whole organization forward. She was always there to lend a sympathetic ear, brainstorm, and do more. She is an invaluable resource. She was there when I eight months pregnant and asked to plan NABE's 40th Annual Meeting in 1998. (I was told that it was the only time that Alan Greenspan had agreed a full year in advance to speak. Susan and I speculated that he might have been scared I might be forced into an early labor if he declined. There are advantages to being a woman in what too many view as a man's world.) I will miss Susan's steady and able hand at the helm of NABE, but I count on all the years we have ahead as friends.
Diane Swonk

As President of NABE from September 11, 2001 until early October 2002, I had the honor of working closely with Susan Doolittle during a very difficult period for NABE and its members.  The year began with roughly 200 of NABE's members and leaders gathered for breakfast on the last day of NABE's 2001 Annual Meeting in New York's World Trade Center.  Fortunately, we all made it out—physically—but mentally, many of us were visibly shaken for the next year, and beyond.
Susan served as the "Rock of Gibraltar" and the "glue" that held NABE together, helping to keep all of us focused on the important tasks that were ahead of us.  The strength of Susan's character was a role model for all of us as we got our lives back on track.  Through all this, she never asked for, or took, credit for NABE's many achievements.  In Susan’s usual selfless way, NABE and its officers and directors were in the limelight, but many of us would have floundered without Susan Doolittle providing her guidance.
Susan, you have always been a steadfast leader for NABE, a truly great friend, and fun to work with.  But most of all, you will be missed.
With best regards, and good luck for all times,
Harvey Rosenblum

Since I was president of NABE way back in 1975-76 and during Susan's term as executive director I have not been active nor attended meetings regularly, she would have had every right to scarcely know me.  But every time I have gotten in touch with her with a request or a question, she responded as if we were close friends and NABE colleagues. So it is in large part because of Susan that after all these years I still feel that I am a part of NABE.  For that I am grateful to her, as I am sure are many other old-timers.  Thank you Susan, and all the best in the next chapter of your life.
Gil Heebner

A couple of things stand out for me in terms of working with Susan over the past several years.   One is that she is imperturbable. Things can get a little crazy when a group of us are trying to get something important done, like finishing a Policy Survey or trying to resurrect the NABE National Capital Chapter. But we have always been able to count on Susan to be there for us as a helpful voice of reason, which is usually just what we needed. 
The other was the concern she showed toward all of us on 9/11. After the Annual Meeting attendees dispersed in every direction after the attack, she did not rest until all of us were accounted for as safe.  She called my house in Virginia and talked to my parents, who were staying with our two youngest children, and made sure that Cathy and I and our other two boys were OK. I have always regarded Susan as a hero of 9/11, and I will never forget what she did on behalf of NABE members that day.
Rich Brown

Susan was an effective Executive Director for NABE. She is diligent and proficient. In particular, she shines as a recruiter of volunteer help, an indispensable attribute for an executive with a small staff. With a lot of empathy, a little cajoling and a long list of good friends she has many people happy to help.  We wish her many happy retirement years.
Frank Schott

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