Schuman, Susan

Susan Schuman is chair of the consultancy SYPartners, which she led as CEO for more than three decades, and vice chair of kyu Collective, the creative-firm group she helped found in 2014; she served on the Paramount Global board of directors from 2018 until the company's 2025 merger with Skydance Media.

Based in New York, NY Org SYPartners / kyu Collective Role Chair, SYPartners; Vice Chair, kyu

Notable work and positions

Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS Inc.) — former Independent Director (2018–2025)
SYPartners — Chair; former Chief Executive Officer; Co-Founder
kyu Collective — Vice Chair
IDEO LP / IDEO.org — Board Member
Apple Inc. — former Group Manager, Worldwide Product Marketing

Biography

Susan Schuman spent seven years at Apple Inc. as group manager of worldwide product marketing before serving as general manager of Studio Archetype, one of the first premier web design firms in the United States. She later founded her own marketing and product-strategy consultancy before building SYPartners, a consultancy that partners with chief executives and their leadership teams on business and cultural transformation; she led SYPartners as its chief executive for more than three decades, working with clients including AARP, Blackstone, Coach, eBay, Facebook, GE, IBM, JPMorgan Chase, Kohl's, the Oprah Winfrey Network, Planned Parenthood, Pfizer, Starbucks, Target, Viacom and WW (formerly Weight Watchers).

In 2014, Schuman played a central role in founding kyu, a collective of creative and strategy firms established within the Japanese advertising holding company Hakuhodo DY Holdings, with SYPartners becoming one of its founding member companies. She now serves as vice chair of kyu Collective and chair of SYPartners. Schuman also serves on the boards of IDEO LP and IDEO.org, the design consultancy's nonprofit arm, and of Management Leadership for Tomorrow. She previously served as chief operating officer of PlanetOut, Inc. and of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, and sat on the board of Wheels Up Experience, Inc. until September 2023.

Schuman joined the board of ViacomCBS Inc. in 2018 and continued as a director of its successor, Paramount Global, chairing the company's Nominating and Governance Committee and also serving on its Audit and Compensation Committees. In June 2024, amid Paramount's merger negotiations with Skydance Media, four board members departed while Schuman remained among the seven directors nominated for re-election. She and the rest of Paramount's board stepped down when the company's roughly $8 billion merger with Skydance closed on August 7, 2025, forming Paramount Skydance Corporation under a newly constituted board.

Career highlights

1. Building SYPartnersLed the transformation consultancy as chief executive for more than three decades, working with Fortune 100 clients across technology, retail, finance and media.

2. Co-founding kyu, 2014Helped establish the collective of creative and strategy firms within Hakuhodo DY Holdings, with SYPartners as a founding member company.

3. Paramount Global board service, 2018–2025Served as an independent director through the company's merger with Skydance Media, chairing the Nominating and Governance Committee.