Susan Blackston Major
Northeastern alumni occupy some of the top positions in the corporate world, and no one knows this better than Susan Blackston Major, cofounder and managing partner of DavenportMajor Executive Search, a firm that fills top-level positions for high-tech and life sciences companies such as Qualcomm, Motorola, T-Mobile, Abbott, and Johnson & Johnson. Her Rolodex is filled with the names of elite members of the tech industry, and she’s proud to say that it’s not infrequent for her to find herself interviewing senior-level executives from her alma mater. “I’ll be reading over someone’s résumé and say, ‘Oh my gosh, he or she went to Northeastern.’ ”
Major developed her extensive network during her more than 30 years in the technology business. Prior to founding DavenportMajor in 2005, she established Slayton International’s first West Coast headquarters, where she served as managing director, and opened San Diego’s first top-10 search office for A. T. Kearney Executive Search. She has also worked for several global companies, including technology giants Motorola and Lucent.
Major’s contributions to the technology products arena are numerous, and include two patents for wireless messaging. She says she’s proud to have been part of teams at Motorola that, over the years, developed revolutionary products, like cell phones and smartphones, that have positively affected so many lives. And she’s proud that she has been able to accomplish this in an industry where women are few. “I look back at the accomplishments of the past 30 years with great pride, I look forward thinking that the best is yet to come.” says Major.
