Staff: Dr. Susan Walsh

Susan Walsh oversees research evaluation and quality improvement strategies focused on increasing the impact of Friends of the Children on the lives of children and families. She manages Friends’ research and evaluation projects and assesses research, practice, and collaborative partnership linkages to advance the impact of Friends of the Children’s services nationwide. Susan oversees Friends of the Children’s quality improvement system, including stakeholder engagement, performance metric alignment, and best practice staff training and development. Susan also supports strategy advancement on systems change in the positioning of proof points about our impact.

Prior to joining Friends, Susan served as Executive Director of Committed Partners for Youth in Eugene, Oregon for over ten years. She has served on the board at the Children’s Institute in Oregon and other local community-based organizations. In addition to her non-profit work, Susan was an adjunct professor at the University of Oregon, teaching both undergraduate and graduate students about youth development. Susan holds a Bachelor of Science from Georgetown University, a law degree from Villanova University, and a doctorate in special education from the University of Oregon.