Susan Mathisen has worked as an art conservator in both the United States and Europe and as a fundraiser for museums, universities, and other historical agencies. Her extensive museum career started at the Morgan Library while she was still in high school. As a textile conservator specializing in tapestries, she worked at the Smithsonian Institution, the National Gallery of Art, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and Villa La Pietra in Florence, Italy. She transitioned to fundraising during her tenure as Administrative Conservator at the Conservation Center at NYU. She has also held development positions at the American Museum in Britain, Meet the Composer, and the American Academy in Rome.

In 2007, she founded SAM Fundraising Solutions, a consultancy specializing in fundraising for art conservation and historic preservation and assisting European organizations with their “American Friends” groups. Her clients in the UK include English Heritage, the American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Museums of Scotland, and in the US the Renee and Chaim Gross Foundation and the Merchant’s House Museum. She has served on several boards, and is currently a member of the Metropolitan Museum’s Textile Conservation Lab Visiting Committee. She is currently working on a book that explores careers in culture.  www.samathisen.com