As someone directly affected by cardiovascular disease after her mother survived a heart attack, Susan Chicone raises awareness about the importance of heart health.
Chicone will be the Open Your Heart Chair for the next Go Red for Women Luncheon, an American Heart Association movement to end heart disease and stroke in women. She previously served as chair of the Southwest Florida American Heart Association board of directors. Also, she has partnered with a local cardiologist to develop and implement new programs over the next few years that will bring awareness to the risks of untreated high blood pressure.
She’s contributed to the community in more ways, including as a member of the Canterbury School Board of Trustees, and through her work as vice president and private client manager at Busey Wealth Management, which has over $7 billion in assets under its care.
One such example? Chicone recently aided an elderly client who lost her husband—the primary driver of the family’s finances—by helping her balance her checkbook, organize bank statements, contacting the Social Security’s office on her behalf, and handling the collection and retitling of proceeds that were due to the estate.
After overcoming the initial fear of developing business with sales training, she’s able to help clients with financial support regularly.
“I am now in a position where I not only get to take care of my client’s day-to-day needs, but I also get to share our ‘bank’s’ story with new people and bring them into the Busey family,” she says. “It is a great combination for the girl who loves to help people.”
She encourages other young professionals to take on unfamiliar tasks to grow as she did.
“Take challenges! They are a compliment because your leader ‘wouldn’t ask you to do it if they ‘didn’t think you could.” Also: “Be kind! In everything you do, be humble, be kind, and do what is right. Make no exceptions and admit it if you make a mistake. If you do that, all things will work out,” she says.
Chicone earned her MBA from Florida Gulf Coast University, magna cum laude, in 2006. In her free time, she enjoys spending time outdoors with her husband, Drew, and their daughter, Lucy.
