WHO WE ARE

Sandra A. Suran, The Suran Group
The Suran Group, founded in 1990, specializes in Change Management for entities experiencing rapid growth, major or complex change situations. Sandra's 30 year background in auditing and in consulting provide her with the broad, extensive experience and skills necessary to assist in complex change situations: 1) operations and management processes, 2) financial and organizational information needs, 3) organization structure alternatives, and 4) strategic and operations planning.

Sandra has experience working with a variety of industries including high-tech companies, health care, government, construction, higher education institutions, service companies and financial institutions. For example, she has led the development and facilitated the implementation of over 60 comprehensive organizational strategic plans. She has coordinated the planning and supervised the implementation of a similar number of major organizational restructurings in private, government and not-for-profit entities.

To effectively accomplish these major changes, Sandra has developed an extensive network of professional services resources she enlists for projects that require specialized attention for a particular industry or knowledge in a particular area. These outside resources are highly experienced specialists with whom we have worked successfully in the past. The most important criteria in selecting these team members include the same commitment to customer service, integrity and quality work that we demand of ourselves.

Prior to founding The Suran Group, Sandra was an audit and consulting partner of one of Portland's largest accounting and consulting firms, Suran & Company, CPAs, which merged with KPMG Peat Marwick in 1985. Her respected understanding of business led the State of Oregon to hire Sandra to develop a strategic plan for small business in Oregon and implement small business programs for the State.

Sandra is a frequent writer, instructor and speaker at national and regional conferences on such topics as strategic and operations planning, alliances, Board relationships, the role of accountants and accounting regulation post-Enron, future trends, managing change, entrepreneurial economics and consulting services. She has founded and chaired numerous local and national professional and civic organizations, such as the Professional Services Coordinating Council of Oregon, the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, Catholic Charities of Oregon and the Advisory Council on Small Business and Agriculture for the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. She is a former trustee of the University of Portland and has been the recipient of many awards for excellence in business.