Susan Alzner is co-founder of shift7 with Megan Smith, 3rd U.S. CTO and former VP at Google, and Puneet Ahira, former U.S. CTO Special Advisor and Google[x] Program Director. 

shift7 works collaboratively on systemic problems - finding opportunities to scout and scale promising solutions and solution-makers. We engage people, networks and organizations of all kinds, adding proven tech-forward, open, sharable practices to drive direct impact, together. 

Susan led public engagement at the United Nations from 2010-2018, serving the Office of the President of the General Assembly and the Executive Office of the Secretary-General. Her leadership has included designing and facilitating open, transparent, and participatory processes for civil society to contribute recommendations to the Deputy Secretary-General on UN development system reform; to ask questions in the UN General Assembly dialogues with candidates for UN Secretary-General, and to apply to speak at or attend the highest-level UN events, Conferences and Summits, including the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants, the Post-2015 development agenda negotiations and Summit, and the Solutions Summit.

 

Susan received a UN Secretary-General Staff Award for Teamwork in 2015, and was recognized as a finalist for a UN Secretary-General Staff Award for Managing Change in 2016. She led extensive civil society consultations for the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panels and Groups on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, Sustainable Energy for All, Global Sustainability, and Climate Finance. Susan’s prior experience includes Coordinator for the Global Campaign for Climate Action (GCCA), and political project manager for musician and social activist Ani DiFranco. She also organized cross-country bicycle rides to raise awareness and funding for Native American environmental initiatives. Susan graduated from Yale University.