Susie Goodman

Susie Goodman (b. 1969, Johannesburg) is the Executive Director of Strauss & Co and is therefore a key member of the executive management team. She joined the company in 2011, specialising in client advisory services.  She was appointed an executive board member in 2018, and since then she has taken on an increasing number of roles. Susie currently oversees all of the business processes critical to developing and maintaining Strauss & Co’s position as the most dynamic auction house in Africa.

An energetic leader with a thorough understanding of the auction business cycle, Susie is responsible for the efficient functioning of specialist departments, people, operations, technology and finance. Teamwork, transparency and the ability to adapt are central pillars of her ethos as a leader. Susie has been integral to implementing Strauss & Co’s international growth and technological transformation. Leading a team of motivated experts and dedicated operations staff located in multiple countries, Susie has overseen the implementation of new auction formats that have enabled Strauss & Co to significantly expand its global reach, including developing Strauss’s online sales capability before the impact of the COVID pandemic.  She has also bolstered the role of education and social-outreach collaborations, ensuring long-term partnerships with institutions like Artists Proof Studios, Cassirer Welz Award and KwaZulu-Natal Society of Arts. 

Susie’s dynamism draws on a wealth of professional experience in the auction industry. After receiving her Bachelor of Arts (Art History) at the University of Cape Town, she furthered her studies with Christie’s Fine Art Auctioneers Education department in London. Susie served an internship at Christie’s King Street, later taking up a position in the client advisory department where she worked for nine years, including as Head of Client Advisory,  and as an Associate Director. 

Susie was involved in a number of important sales of single-owner collections at Christie’s and played a key role in developing Christie’s Global Buyers’ Programmes. She returned to South Africa in 2006 with dynamic ideas to harness the auction model to best showcase the extraordinary work of modern and contemporary artists from Southern Africa to collectors across the world.