For more than two decades, first inside global financial services firms and since 2009 through LKR Associates, Susan Rutz has been the trusted partner leaders bring in when something is stuck: a portfolio without oversight, a system replacement nobody wants, a regulator that needs answers. The work fixes the problem in front of the organization, and it leaves behind the structure, processes, and people to run what comes next. Client names are withheld here out of respect for those relationships; every result below is documented.
California state agencies, where transformation has to survive public scrutiny, procurement rules, and long institutional memory.
California State Agency
Managed transition and change on the replacement of 49 legacy systems with a single enterprise platform serving 1.6 million members. Directed an interdisciplinary team of 26 state staff and change consultants, ran all transition communications for the consolidation, and established the governance that guided the organization's first enterprise learning management system.
California State Agency
Led program and change management for an enterprise content management implementation at the department that manages the state's water system, establishing an archival system that eliminated decades of manual paper filing ahead of a headquarters relocation. Facilitated executive strategic planning on what to digitize, retain, or shred, and planned the transition for 3,500 to 4,000 staff across 11 divisions.
California State Agency
Led change management for the replacement of the legacy system California used to validate statewide nutrition-education spending and justify federal funding. Translated operational needs into role clarity and redesigned business processes, and designed a staged, statewide training program that reached hundreds of state employees and nutrition educators, with support channels sustained after go-live.
Organizations balancing growth against regulation, where a governance mistake shows up as rework, cost, and member impact.
Health Insurance Industry
Across two engagements with one of California's largest health insurers, led operations readiness for moving 38,000 employer groups onto an automated enrollment platform, then led enterprise change management for a governance framework that standardized how benefit-impacting changes were reviewed, cutting rework and saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in its first implementation. Aligned 60 product development personnel behind the program and built the governance plan for a benefits platform serving 4.4 million members.
Health Benefits Industry
Embedded HR business partner and organizational effectiveness advisor to the CIO and technology leadership at one of the largest benefits providers in the U.S., serving 90 million members. Partnered on strategic planning, organizational design, workforce planning, and talent management across the enterprise technology organization, and conducted M&A due diligence for potential European acquisitions.
Banking, investment management, and consulting, where federal regulators, international structures, and a firm's own reputation raise the stakes.
Banking Industry
Ran a Dodd-Frank-driven program for the U.S. arm of an international cooperative bank, roughly 100 branches and 1,600 employees, embedding risk ownership into every role. Built the governance structure, communications strategy, and training plans the bank needed to meet federal and state requirements, aligned priorities across U.S., European, and New York regional leadership, and coached the CEO and senior team on owning risk.
Global Investment Management Firm
Sixteen years inside one of the world's largest asset managers, first directing worldwide training for an 1,100-person finance division with a team of 20 across three international locations, then serving as embedded HR business partner to senior finance leaders. Designed the 360-degree feedback surveys and core competency model adopted enterprise-wide, led succession planning for senior leaders, and executed a multi-year initiative redistributing people and processes across time zones.
Consulting Firm (confidential)
Retained to standardize how the firm scopes, executes, and presents its work across all service lines, and to strengthen how it positions itself in proposals and the market through a proprietary delivery framework.
Grant-funded initiatives inside the state's community college system, measured by oversight that holds and outcomes for students.
California State System
Five-year engagement with the state office overseeing 116 community colleges and 1.8 million students. Converted six independently managed, multimillion-dollar grant programs into a governed portfolio with annual work plans, quarterly reporting, and deliverable tracking, then trained the office's own staff to run the PMO. The portfolio's work contributed to improved cybersecurity practices and reduced financial aid fraud statewide.
Every engagement above started with a conversation about a problem someone couldn't see their way through.
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