After more than 46 years of dedicated service to the City of Fremont, Suzanne has announced that she is retiring at the end of August. Suzanne began her career managing the City’s Human Services Department in 1978. Under Suzanne’s leadership, the City’s Human Services Department has received many awards for its innovation and ability to build community partnerships, including the Community Partnership for Older Adults grant, Grantmakers in Aging, Diversity Award, and National League of Cities Cultural Diversity Award.
As an advocate for others, Suzanne dedicated much of her career to championing equity and inclusion, fostering and celebrating diversity, strengthening relationships for families, and enhancing the quality of life for all. Suzanne’s list of accomplishments is vast, but most notably she will be remembered for the creation of Fremont’s Family Resource Center. Over the last 25 years thousands of community members from the Tri-City area, have been provided access to quality services as a result of her vision. Suzanne developed a long-term plan to support Fremont’s aging population, which included the opening of the City’s first Age Well Center 40+ years ago and in 2021 the second Age Well Center, in south Fremont. In recent years Suzanne has led efforts to develop compassionate programs, such as the Housing Navigation Center, to assist Fremont’s homeless population.
Suzanne’s dedication to consensus building has resulted in many strong partnerships in the community, including her close work with faith-based organizations to develop the Safe Parking program and collaboration with the Afghan community, most recently highlighted through the development of the Afghan Refugee Fund. The programs and services developed under Suzanne’s tenure as our Human Services Director leave a legacy that will have a lasting impact on the Fremont community for years to come.
Suzanne’s shoes will be hard to fill. In the coming weeks, the City will prepare for a nationwide recruitment for the City’s next Human Service Director. Following Suzanne’s departure in late August, Assistant City Manager Christina Briggs will serve as Interim Director until a new Human Service Director is hired.