Bio
Susan Budinger is a Founding Director of The Rodel Foundations, a group of private and public philanthropies dedicated to helping improve primary and secondary public education in the U.S. The Foundations, which have operating organizations in Delaware and Arizona, were founded in 1999.
Before the formation of the Foundations, Budinger was a director of Rodel, Inc. Rodel manufactured textiles and chemistries used in the production of semiconductors and other precision surfaces worldwide. Budinger directed the process that generated the articulation of the Company’s vision and core ideology and ultimately lead to the establishment of the Rodel Foundations. During her earlier career at Rodel, Budinger worked in marketing, sales and organization development. Prior to joining Rodel, she was an Account Executive with Griffin Bacal Advertising in New York, NY.
Budinger is a past board chair of the Rodel Foundation of Delaware and member of the Arizona Community Foundation, where she chaired the committee responsible for education programs and grants. In that role she published “Educating Arizona” and “Building our Foundation,” which provided a comprehensive review of the state of primary, secondary and early education in Arizona. She is a past member of the boards of the Arizona Early Education Funds, The Ellis Center for Educational Excellence and Phoenix Country Day School. In 2008 Governor Napolitano appointed her to the Arizona P – 20 Council Budinger has a M.A. in developmental psychology from Arizona State University and a B.A. in mathematics and economics from Hamilton College. She is the mother of two children who are now in college, and she lives in Santa Barbara, California.
