Susie Crafton joins Education Pioneers as the Senior Vice President, National Development.  Prior to EP, Susie launched Apeira Revenue Solutions, a fundraising consulting firm focused on fundraising strategy, systems, and capacity building as well as governance engagement and training.  Before Apeira, Susie served as the Chief Development Officer for Stand for Children where she was responsible for building and implementing the organization-wide fundraising systems and supports, and coaching Executive Directors on fundraising, for 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), and Political Action Committees across eleven states.  Before working in education advocacy, Susie was the Chief Development Officer for IDEA Public Schools, a network of high performing charter schools, where she raised $57 million in 28 months, allowing them to scale from a small system of 6 schools to a network of now 44 and still growing.  Successful grants include Investing in Innovation (i3), Charter School Program Expansion, and GEAR UP.  At IDEA, she also worked with their board of directors to add a multi-regional governance structure and launched support services to increase college persistence of IDEA’s high school graduates.

Prior to IDEA, Susie was project manager for Center for Reform of School Systems from 2005 to 2009 where she managed an intensive training and consulting program for select public school boards to learn how to reform large urban districts through governance.  Susie has also worked for KIPP Houston, held leadership positions in the private sector and in higher education administration, and is a Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum Gulf Coast, Class XXXI.  She is active in her children’s elementary school PTA and judges Odyssey of the Mind competitions. 

Susie grew up in Michigan, but has lived in Texas for the past 15 years. She earned both her B. A. in English and M. A. in Student Affairs Administration from Michigan State University.