Scholarship Recipients, Where Are They Now?

February 2011

Suzanne Permanna, FWA Scholarship recipient 2008 is the Asset Liability Management Financial Modeler and Assistant Vice President of the Treasury Department at Bank of the West. She develops and analyzes financial models to minimize risk to the Bank’s portfolio by observing consumer behavior and analyzing the characteristics of products offered.

Suzanne developed her academic and professional ambitions working in what she calls the “Pink Collar Ghetto” – a reality for many low-income women in America who are stuck in a cycle of poverty and whose children are often fated to continue the cycle. At twenty years old Suzanne was the single mother of a two year old daughter working low-wage jobs to survive. Without a formal education, her options were few. The expectations that society had of her were low.

Recognizing the systematic barriers that discourage low- income women from obtaining an education, she became fascinated with the field of Economics. In seven years Suzanne obtained three college degrees while working and supporting her family. She obtained her MBA at the Lorey I. Lokey Graduate School of Business, BA in Political, Legal, and Economic Analysis with an emphasis in Economics at Mills College, and AA in Liberal Studies from Chabot College. She volunteers with the FWA, Operation Hope, Wardrobe for Opportunity, and frequently speaks at events as a representative of Mills College and FWA scholarship winner.

She has served as the Team Lead for the FWA-Mills Scholarship Team and will be the FWA Scholarship Co-Chair in 2012. She is
also the founding member of the Lorry I. Lokey Graduate School
of Business Advisory Council, which is currently in development. She loves the process of learning and currently attends computer programming classes and is studying both French and Mandarin. She enjoys traveling with her family and looks forward to seeing the world for both work and pleasure.