Susan Brockway, at home in coastal Boca Raton, looks back fondly on her nine years on the Community Foundation board and urges people to contact the foundation for guidance on where to donate. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
As of June, Boca Raton resident Susan Brockway concluded her nine years of board service with the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties.
“I first served at the Community Foundation as a grant reviewer for the MacArthur Grants, and after that I was asked to join its board of directors,” Brockway said.
While she’s involved with many charities, the Community Foundation holds a special place for her. “I am still a fund holder there,” she said.
“I was quite excited when I was first introduced to them and became involved. The Community Foundation identifies the community’s greatest needs and helps to fulfill those needs.
“I loved working with them. The growth it has experienced over those nine years was just fantastic in terms of dollars and its help to nonprofits and the community.”
Brockway, 68, was especially proud of the Community Foundation’s collaborative role within the Palm Beach County Funders Group during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Together, we created a common application for grant support, streamlining the process so that emergency funds could be distributed efficiently and quickly as the pandemic unfolded,” she said. “The support reached health centers, food pantries, child care programs and homeless shelters, helping the most vulnerable with essentials to survive during those trying times.
“In the end, the Community Foundation distributed about $3 million of our own funds while assisting others in this collaborative identify needs for their funding.”
Having retired as an accountant, she said she feels blessed to have time for her volunteer work and to enjoy her family.
Among her volunteer endeavors, Brockway will continue as a board member of her alma mater, Stetson University, and she remains actively involved with Place of Hope. Additionally, she has just joined the board of the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts.
“Those are my biggest commitments,” she said.
Brockway wishes to get the word out to fellow philanthropists that the Community Foundation has a deep knowledge of local needs.
“We have so many people who have moved here, and they don’t know about the nonprofit world” in Palm Beach and Martin counties, Brockway said. “While they can still support the causes they care about back home, the Community Foundation can introduce them to how they can help” locally.
— Christine Davis
Q: Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A: I have lived in South Florida since I was 9 years old. I lived in a very small town in West Virginia prior to moving to Miami in 1967. From Miami we moved to Lake Worth in 1973. I attended public schools and experienced many facets of desegregation while in Miami. Following high school, I attended a small private university, Stetson University, in DeLand.
My background has given me empathy towards public school teachers, having witnessed what they had to deal with when I was a student, and then leaping forward to today, it is definitely a difficult career that is often underappreciated and undervalued. Second, I have a passion for helping students pursue college degrees that need financial help to do this. I truly wanted to attend a four-year university, and I vividly remember my high school guidance counselors strongly guiding me to attend the local junior college since I had financial need. I am so happy that I was able to attend Stetson for four great years.
Q: What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A: I began working in public accounting upon my college graduation. I was a CPA with Coopers & Lybrand, now PricewaterhouseCoopers, in their West Palm Beach office in the audit area. I left Coopers to work for one of my audit clients as their financial controller at a real estate development in Boca Raton.
To share a bit of humor related to my audit career, I had the immense pleasure of serving on the audit team at The Breakers hotel and working in a beautiful ocean view room that had been converted into a workroom for an extended time period, and also going to the PGA of America in Palm Beach Gardens and working in a lovely environment — and then having to pivot to work on the first-ever audit of Palm Beach County and spending days and nights in the bowels of windowless county building basements. It was all great experience, but no doubt this influenced my move to work in Boca Raton for a real estate development that had a golf course and tennis facility.
Q: What advice do you have for a young person seeking a career today?
A: That is extremely difficult as we see how rapidly the world is changing with AI, world and domestic political views, and the desire for balance with career and personal life.
I think that it is important for young people to develop social skills and good manners. A positive first impression can open doors before your technical skills are even tested.
Q: How did you choose to make your home in coastal Boca Raton?
A: Purely out of geography. When my husband and I married he was working in Miami and I was working in West Palm Beach and we settled in Boca Raton, where we could both commute to our jobs.
Q: What is your favorite part about living in coastal Boca Raton?
A: Wow. Having been here 42 years it is tough to be concise on this. But my wonderful friendships are a blessing beyond compare, and I love the community for the generosity of its people and their philanthropic support of so many important causes.
Q: What book are you reading now?
A: A novel that I just finished reading is The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. I love historical fiction and this is a great historical mystery novel inspired by the diaries of an 18th-century midwife in Maine. I am enjoying Awestruck by Jonah Paquette. It is a guide to cultivate the awe that is possible in our everyday lives.
Q: What music do you listen to when you want to relax? When you want to be inspired?
A: I am a huge fan of Chris Stapleton, a country music artist, and I had the great pleasure of seeing him in concert in June. So, for relaxation, I must put his name at the top of the list. For inspiration, I often choose contemporary Christian music.
Q: Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
A: I certainly had people early in my years that guided my college and career decisions, but presently I am surrounded by so many unbelievably talented women that I serve with in various volunteer capacities I do not know where to start.
I am fearful to list names as there are too many to name, but I must share how Sherry Barrat, who I served with at the Community Foundation and now the Kravis Center, has inspired me. Her preparation and focus allow her to chair a meeting in an effective and timely manner. And her contributions as a committee member are always well thought out and well communicated.
Second, the three founders of Impact 100 Palm Beach County — Tandy Robinson, Lisa Mulhall and Cindy Krebsbach — inspire me every day with what they started and how smashingly successful it is. These women had a lofty idea that they succeeded in bringing to life in one short year — with the help of the Community Foundation initially serving as their 501(c)(3) — and Impact 100 PBC has flourished and granted nearly $8 million to nonprofit programs serving southern Palm Beach County.
Q: If your life story were to be made into a movie, who would play you?
A: Reese Witherspoon! Only because I have been fortunate enough to have people tell me that I looked like her.
Q: Who/what makes you laugh?
A: Right now it is my five grandchildren. They bring me immeasurable joy and laughter each day.
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