Susan Lynn Lieberman Dell is the wife of Michael S. Dell, the founder and CEO of Dell Inc., the world’s largest provider of information technology infrastructure. Susan and Michael married in 1989, and she has been interested in charity endeavors ever since. She is a former athlete and now a mother of four, as well as a businesswoman who developed a fashion label based on her passion. Susan was an active sportswoman before she married, having completed marathons, triathlons, and bicycle races.
She was a founding member of the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, a philanthropic organization backed by Dell Inc.’s multibillion-dollar fortune. Susan has been the foundation’s backbone, and the majority of the projects it has done were her brainchild. Susan is fiercely competitive and motivated by nature, and everything she has accomplished has been earned via a lot of hard work, not just by marrying a business giant.
Life, Goals, and Achievements
Susan comes from a family of self-motivated people. Her father, Zelig Lieberman, is a well-known physician at Baylor Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, and her brothers, Steve and Randy, are successful entrepreneurs in their respective fields of real estate and venture capital, respectively.
Susan was a popular girl throughout her high school years, and she was engaged in sports. Susan was a star athlete in high school and college, winning numerous triathlons.
She moved on to Arizona State University in Tempe to study fashion merchandising and design after high school. Susan relocated to Austin, Texas, after college to work in real estate for Trammell Crow.
In February of 1988, she was introduced to Michael Dell by a client. Dell had just begun his computer hardware company, PC’s Limited when he was still in school.
He was a rising celebrity, a little awkward in social situations, and far from the great businessman, he is now. Susan was immediately taken to Michael’s persona when they went on a date.
Michael’s firm went public, and his stock holdings soared to $100 million USD, just as she predicted. Susan and Michael were engaged the following spring, and they married in October of 1989.
By 1991, Michael Dell was one of America’s richest people, and the couple’s lives were thrust into the spotlight. Every move the corporation made was scrutinized, and Michael began making the best decisions he could.
The family increased with the arrival of their first boy and then a daughter, and with it, Susan need to do something to separate herself apart from her peers.
The ‘Michael and Susan Dell Foundation,’ a charitable organization aiming at assisting society and giving back some of the billions that the company has made to the welfare of the people, was established out of this drive.
The foundation began by focusing on issues concerning children’s health and education in the state of Texas. They eventually expanded their program and teamed with a number of organizations around the United States.
The foundation primarily works in the fields of education and health, with a focus on children and young adults. The ‘Dell Scholars program offers advice and financial support to poor yet gifted children.
There are funding programs for public schools as well as financial support for programs such as Teach for America and the Knowledge is Power Program.
The foundation has made significant efforts in the health sector to combat child-centric health issues such as obesity.
The foundation has helped establish better infrastructure in medical schools like the University of Texas at Austin by funding awareness documentaries, donating funds to central bodies like the President’s Council on Physical Fitness (of which Susan was a member), and funding awareness documentaries.
In addition, the foundation has aided in the improvement of community health and the construction of new teaching hospitals.
As of 2017, the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation had received a total of $1.32 billion in donations, with efforts directed towards developing countries such as India and South Africa through partner organizations.
Susan has also pursued the path of entrepreneurship, investing in a number of fashion businesses and launching her own line, Phi, in 2003.
Susan’s fashion sense was important in developing Phi as a phenomenal brand that featured superb snappy, architectural, and shamelessly modern clothing under designer Andreas Melbostad’s supervision.
However, the brand was forced to close its doors in 2009, amid a financially challenging period, yet just in time for the spring-summer collection.
Family & Personal Life
Susan has taken on a lot of duties throughout the years, coming from a professional background and sharing her life with an uber-successful business scion.
The most important of these is to make good commercial and personal decisions. She has managed to keep a cool head and not let the children’s success get the best of them.
She’s instilled a strong sense of order and routine in their family’s life, encouraging them to live a healthy lifestyle and stay in shape. She is very fashion conscious and has an uncanny ability to put together precisely matching clothes for both business meetings and parties.
She has built her family into the most successful in the state of Texas, and she has been an inspiration to hundreds of people all over the world through her philanthropic efforts.
Susan Dell is the perfect example of a rich wife who has made a name for herself based on her own merits rather than a name she adopted.
Estimated Net worth
Susan Dell’s net worth is believed to be $15.9 billion, however her earnings are kept private.