Susan Elliott, 74, chairwoman and founder of the St. Louis-based Systems Service Enterprises Inc. and author of "Across the Divide: Navigating the Digital Revolution as a Woman, Entrepreneur and CEO."
FAMILY • Married for 50 years to Howard Elliott Jr., an attorney and retired Laclede Gas Co. executive. They live in Ladue. Two daughters: Kathryn Elliott Love, a partner with Bryan Cave, and Elizabeth Elliott Niedringhaus, president and CEO of Systems Service Enterprises Inc. Love is married to George Love, an executive with a pharmaceutical company. The couple have three daughters and they live in Clayton. Niedringhaus is married to Hunt Niedringhaus, a sales executive with a local manufacturing firm. They live in Ladue and have two sons. Susan is the elder of two daughters born to Jane and Charles Spoehrer. The family lived in Olivette. Susan's sister, Sally Lemkemeier, is a community volunteer. Their father was an attorney and mother was a community volunteer.
EDUCATION • Graduated from Mary Institute in 1954; bachelor's degree in American Studies from Smith College, 1958.
How did you become a pioneer in the digital revolution?
I was always a numbers person. I loved math and when I got out of college, IBM was actively recruiting women. They had violets on their brochures! I interviewed with them and they had just decentralized their training out of New York. I was hired in July 1958 to train in St. Louis.
What sort of system were you working on in those days?
Punched-card machines. I was programming punched cards for processing accounting applications. We had 11 weeks of training, and only one week was concentrated on computers.
What was it like for a woman at IBM at that time?
There were five women and 99 men. The office was a sea of gray desks and men could smoke at their desks but women had to smoke in the ladies room. I worked there for eight years and had to leave when I was six months pregnant because they did not allow women to work beyond that.
Could you have gone back to work for them after you had your child?
I could have, but by then I had incorporated as a business Systems Service Enterprises Inc. The name built upon my original IBM job title of Systems Service representative and also matched my initials (Susan Spoehrer Elliott). First National Bank in downtown St. Louis wanted to hire me for the technical skills I had from IBM. But they had the same maternity policy as IBM, so my husband, who was newly out of law school, incorporated my business. That way the bank could feel protected in contracting with a corporation rather than in hiring a pregnant woman.
What did you do after Kathryn was born?
I worked as a consultant on a freelance basis until 1983, when I fully revived my company.
Was it difficult to be out of the field for 17 years?
My freelance work was interesting, so I was able to keep up with a lot of the developments. One thing I did was a project for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in Jefferson City. My husband had been appointed to the Public Service Commission, so we were there for four years. He was then appointed to be on the Postal Rate Commission — he decided the 8-cent stamp — so we were in Washington for two years.
When did you start working on a regular basis again?
In 1979 I resumed my career with First National Bank. I worked on implementing a new system that was designed to manage leasing software for the bank. ... This was an early forerunner of today's cloud computing.
What was your goal when you revived your company?
I had persuaded my husband to buy a PC that was up for auction at a charitable event we attended at what was then McDonnell Douglas. We paid about $4,000 for it, and I knew I could use it to start the company up again. My initial focus was to help small business make the right software and hardware decisions for their needs. I did the marketing and administrative tasks and worked with a group of techies who were independent contractor to my company. I then partnered with IBM in its marketing assistance program for their new PC retail store, which was called the Product Center, in downtown St. Louis. By the mid-1980s, we were doing a lot of training for PC users.
What was the last best book you read, other than your own?
"Leadership is an Art," by Max DePree.
What do you drive?
A black Mercedes. The license plate is 6236, which was my grandfather's street address.
