Susan Penfield

Susan Penfield, an Executive Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton, leads the firm’s Strategic Innovation Group (SIG) and is a member of Booz Allen’s Leadership Team.  The SIG develops and delivers innovative solutions to our clients’ toughest challenges through a focused innovation agenda:

• Next Generation Analytics – Develops leading-edge and comprehensive analytics solutions
• Cyber Futures – Develops differentiated cyber solutions and disruptive business models to address emerging threats and vulnerabilities
• Digital – Modernizes and transforms closed, proprietary systems to open agile enterprises
• Directed Energy – Serves as a technology maturation agent and integrator of directed energy-solutions
• Innovation Culture, Ventures & Solutions – Enables new and disruptive business models, builds the Firm’s presence in the external ecosystem, and enables a vibrant innovation culture

As part of the SIG, Susan also provides executive leadership for five functional service organizations in Analytics, Cyber, Engineering and Science, Management Consulting, and Systems Delivery.  In partnership with Booz Allen’s innovation agenda, these organizations find, develop and rotate functional talent across the firm to apply new capabilities to new clients.

Susan built the Innovation Culture, Ventures & Solutions team – accelerating growth opportunities for the Firm by driving cultural processes and tools that fuel innovation, engaging in external partnerships and emerging technologies to create breakthrough business models, and expanding the Firm’s portfolio of solutions through alternative revenue streams and the Internet of Things (IoT). Susan also provided leadership to the Firm’s Alliance and Strategic Ventures programs.  In this role, Susan was selected as one of the most influential figures in Government Consulting for driving vision, innovation, and achievement for American citizens through the Wash100 award.

Before joining the SIG, Susan led the Firm’s Health business, where she drove technology and transformation initiatives across the Federal, Commercial, and non-profit health space.  Susan provided consulting services for every major Federal health-related organization in the U.S., and led several high profile engagements to include:

• Oversight of the program, strategy, and technology for the NIH National Children’s Study
• Development of a National Plan to Combat Alzheimer’s Disease
• Transformation of the CDC’s Vaccine for Children program
• Implementation of large-scale technology transformation programs in support of FDA’s pharmacovigilance, food safety, and other regulatory programs. 

Susan has been engaged in many leading issues facing the healthcare industry, such as childhood health research efforts, veterans’ reintegration challenges, and women’s health.  She serves on the Board of Directors of the Children’s Inn at the National Institutes of Health, the Women’s Center of Vienna, and the National Capital Chapter of the American Red Cross.

Susan is also an advocate for the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women and serves as an executive advisor for Booz Allen’s Women’s Agenda. She is a member of the Washington Women’s Forum and the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE), and was recognized by the NAFE as their 2015 Digital Trailblazer. 

She holds a B.S. degree in technology management from Lock Haven University in Pennsylvania and a certificate in Management from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Business.