Suzanne Garber

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Suzanne Garber is the author of SAFETY NETwork: A Tale of Ten Truths of Executive Networking, which, written in novel form, describes how best to network and find your work passion.

Photography: 
Ben Leuner

Suzanne Garber made it through the Great Recession with her job intact as a managing director for FedEx. But a colleague who was not so fortunate couldn’t find another job and ended up homeless. Garber CCAS’92 took in her friend and got the germ of an idea that became SAFETY NETwork: A Tale of Ten Truths of Executive Networking (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015). The book, written in novel form, describes how best to network and find your work passion. Garber drew on interviews with more than 100 vice presidents and other executives who were willing to “share their experiences and help somebody else out,” she says.

The story centers on a fictional corporate executive who learns the hard way how to rise above a series of unfortunate events by pursuing his passion; engaging trusted allies and mentors; eliminating negativity; being open to new possibilities; and making relationships matter.

Garber started college in North Carolina, but transferred to Rutgers to study Spanish and political science after her family relocated to Voorhees, New Jersey. Staying with her family rather than remaining in North Carolina reinforced for her the importance of personal relationships.

While at Rutgers University–Camden, she also learned the importance of hard work. She worked three jobs while in school, including one for the late U.S. senator Frank Lautenberg. She also interned at radio station WHYY in Philadelphia and New Jersey Public Interest Research Group. “I wouldn’t have had those opportunities if not for Rutgers–Camden,” she says. Juggling work and school, she adds, “instilled in me a very strong work ethic.”

It’s a work ethic she’s carrying into her next venture. She recently founded the website Gauze. The site, which will connect patients with international  hospitals, will launch at the end of this year. She is also working on a follow-up to SAFETY NETwork, a workbook for professionals