Life and career

Susan Arnold graduated from the University of Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

 with a Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 degree, and from the University of Pittsburgh

University of Pittsburgh

The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...

 with a Master of Business Administration

Master of Business Administration

The Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...

 degree.

She is a member of the board of directors

Board of directors

A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...

 of The Walt Disney Company

The Walt Disney Company

The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...

. She has been a Director of the company since 2007, and in 2004 she became vice chairman of Procter & Gamble

Procter & Gamble

Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....

. She had joined Procter & Gamble in 1980 and held several management and marketing positions before becoming the manager of Procter & Gamble's cosmetics business in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 in 1990. In 1999, she assumed global responsibility for Procter & Gamble's personal beauty business, thereby becoming the first woman to reach a president-level position in the company. She retired from Procter & Gamble on March 9, 2009. According to Forbes, Susan Arnold got her start as a brand assistant on the Dawn/Ivory Snow Group.

Since 2002, she has been listed on Fortune Magazine's 50 Most Powerful Women in Business, in 2004 and 2005, she was listed on the Wall Street Journal's 50 Women to Watch, and in 2005 she was #57 on Forbes' The World's 100 Most Powerful Women list. She is on the executive committee of Catalyst

Catalyst (nonprofit organization)

Catalyst, Inc. is a nonprofit organization that promotes inclusive workplaces for women. It was founded in 1962 by feminist, writer, and advocate Felice Schwartz. Sheila Wellington served as president of Catalyst following Schwartz for ten years...

, a nonprofit organization working toward the advancement of women in business.

She is openly lesbian.