Susan Willett Bird, Esq., Founder & CEO, Wf360, LLC
Susan Willett Bird, Esq., is Founder and CEO of Wf360, LLC, the company that created Brandversation™, the word-of-mouth marketing tool used by blue-chip clients like Accenture, IBM, Maytag, Wal-Mart, DuPont, Dow, Alcoa, Starbucks, and the New York Stock Exchange to connect profitably with employees and customers anywhere in the world. For employees, Wf360 combines satellite and web technologies with other elements in a unique combination that engages workforces globally in
shaping their company’s future. For customers, Wf360’s Brandversation™ creates social networks among customers that connect them powerfully with what a company and its brands stand for.
Wf360 produces MainEvent®, which engages extraordinary rosters of world-class thought leaders in candid conversations about leadership issues, and includes thousands of participants simultaneously around the world. Wf360 also creates and
distributes content showcasing extraordinary business and thought leaders and produces Leading Questions™ (patent pending), the conversational tool used by companies to jump-start creative problem-solving among employees and customers.
An expert on the formation of business alliances, Ms. Bird served as President of American Mediation Council, LLC, and enjoyed a distinguished career in the real estate investment industry as a senior officer with Grubb & Ellis Company and later with her own firm. Earlier in her career, Ms. Bird practiced law at Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro in San Francisco. She received her law degree from Stanford Law School, where she was a member of Law Review.
Ms. Bird is a Founding Member and former Chair of the Committee of 200, the pre-eminent organization of women business leaders; a member of the prestigious International Women’s Forum representing 3000 women leaders worldwide; a member of
the Women’s Leadership Board of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University; and a member of the International Council for the Kilby International Awards.
Bird is the author of Smart Talk: The ABC’s of Authentic Conversation and a frequent speaker and consultant on leadership issues and word-of-mouth as the most powerful marketing tool on the planet for businesses large and small. She is regarded by many as one of the world’s most able facilitators of business-based discussions.
Recent speaking engagements include The New York Stock Exchange 360 Summit; Microsoft’s Global Accounts Summit (Bangkok;) and the BIG Lottery Fund’s Investing in Communities Conference (Scotland) as well as events sponsored by the World Economic Forum (Amman, Jordan and Kuala Lumpur, Indonesia); Young Presidents Organization (U.S. and Spain); Stanford Law School; London Business School; Harvard
Business School; the Nikkei Forum of Business Executives (Tokyo); the WIN program (Italy); FWE (Paris); NESTA (London); Deloitte & Touche (Beijing); Tsinghua University (Beijing) and others. Ms. Bird facilitated the MainEvent® Middle East RoadShow in Dubai and Cairo, as well as the Asia/Pacific RoadShow in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia and the Small Business Road Show.
Bird has been featured in numerous print articles, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Newsweek, Inc., Business Week, New York Woman, Crain’s New York Business, Venture, Glamour Italy, USA Today and The Australian Financial Review, and
has participated in numerous radio and television interviews, including appearances on ABC, CBS, CNNfn, FNN, Reuters Japan, and CNBC.
Among many honors, she is especially proud of receiving the Crain’s New York Business Award for Success and Leadership in Business as well as the “Life of the City Award” from New York Woman magazine saluting her for extraordinary business achievement. Among other interests, she cites as most memorable her co-producing the Broadway show, Jelly’s Last Jam, and the fact that she joined her four sons in skydiving from 13,000 feet.
