Geri Reid Suster
AUTHOR

Geri Reid Suster

Business & Careers
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Geri Suster’s love of adventure and embrace of graceful exits — and new beginnings — is not only the subject and theme of her book, but also a reflection of her life to this point. Geri grew up in a small beach community in Southern California with dreams of becoming a journalist when she got older. Her mother and stepfather’s divorce on the eve of entering college dramatically changed her financial circumstances. She worked her way through college, where she was enrolled in SDSU’s journalism program (the first class to transition from typewriters to Apple Macintosh computers – what a time to be alive!) Her goal was to become an editor in the publishing industry. A placement agency landed her a job right out of college — for a publisher of telephone directories. She was thinking more like books and magazines – the glamorous side of publishing. Seventeen years later, she worked her way up to the Director of Operations and Equity Stakeholder, responsible for all of the Production and Printing services for 325 directories annually and a combined budget of over $60 million. She traveled extensively, learning the art of compassionate and inclusive leadership and developed a penchant for building high-performing teams. Her company completed 57 acquisitions in a 10-year period. She successfully integrated the operations of the acquired companies into their own, on time and on budget. As a result, she was put in the difficult position of laying off employees, as they simply could not keep all that they had acquired. Invariably, the company she served was bought by its biggest competitor. She stayed for one more year to help transition the operations, and then took her one-year severance package to be with her boys, who were 6 and 9 at the time. Geri started consulting for another directory publisher, TransWestern Publishing based in Orem, Utah. After a year of consulting and convincing them that she could do the job from her home base in Carlsbad, she was hired as VP of Operations at ZipLocal. After 5 years, she was promoted to COO. She left in 2013 to jump into an upcoming technology-based company; she was laid off 8 months later because the sales strategy failed. That layoff resulted in an epiphany, and time for further reflection, that led to the writing of Graceful Exits. With some time off to enjoy her boys, who were quickly becoming adults, she rented an RV a few months before her eldest son left for college. She began feeling restless – not really knowing why but she felt the end of her full family nest approaching. She longed to be somewhere with more trees but wasn’t sure where that would be. A strong pull toward moving was washing over her with greater frequency. The solution? An epic road trip. In 2017, it became clear to her to sell everything, buy an RV and travel until she found her tree-covered oasis. She hit the road driving a 31-foot Class A RV with an SUV in tow and two dogs on board, traveling 45,000 miles across 25 states and 5 provinces in Canada by the end of 2019. When her older dog crossed over, she decided it was time for a new chapter in her life as well. So in February of 2020 she sold her RV and tow car, bought a MB Sprinter van and drove it to California from Texas to start building a new home on wheels. Her nephew helped her design and build the home in 81 days, during the early days of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Geri continues to love the nomad life, writing, and consulting with businesses and others on effective leadership. She has found her new hometown (Bend, OR), with no plans to stop traveling. She is hooked on the adventure, spending time with nature and seeing what is around the next curve. Some of her hobbies include exploring, hiking, paddleboarding, kayaking, swimming, reading, gardening and volleyball. Music, laughing and enjoying a game of dice with loved ones is always Geri’s idea of a good time — even better if it is around a blazing campfire with a tasty beverage.
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