Susan and David Lewis

Why Auburn Engineering?

When I graduated from high school, I had planned to attend University of Florida Engineering College since my dad was a Florida alum and die-hard Gator fan. However, after visiting for a campus tour, I realized that it was not the college for me. I toured a couple of other engineering colleges and Auburn was the last one on my list. After the initial tour of the engineering college and meeting with a couple of professors, I knew that Auburn was the place for me. Fortunately, my daddy did not write me out of his will for graduating from Auburn!

How did you meet? If you met on campus, could you tell us your Auburn story?

We met while taking a 7a.m. electrical engineering elective class in the spring of 1984. Out of the 60 students in the class, I was one of only two girls. Since it was an early morning class, both David and I were always late, so we sat in the back row and got to know each other. We decided to become study partners (he had old EE tests and I old EE homework). We both stayed for the summer quarter and continued spending time together outside of class going to happy hour at Waldo Pepper’s, dancing at The Hungry Hunter, going to the War Eagle Supper Club.  By the end of the summer quarter, we were a couple and 36 years later, we are still a couple, blessed with two beautiful daughters and now two grandbabies. So, if you ask me what my favorite class was at Auburn it was that electrical engineering class!

Where are you now? Tell us about your engineering journey after graduation!

After graduating from Auburn, David moved to Nashville, Tennessee to work for an aeronautical company and I moved to Jacksonville, Florida to work for an insurance company. After a two year long distance romance, we got married in 1986 and I moved to Tennessee for love. David ended up working for Toshiba in their Consumer Products division for over 20 years in their industrial engineering department and retired in 2017. I worked for the same aeronautical company as an industrial engineer and then went to Service Merchandise working as an industrial engineer in their jewelry distribution center, which was wonderful since I got to try on all the jewelry. Then, in 1990, I had the opportunity to join Deloitte during the merger of Deloitte, Haskins and Sells and Touche Ross. Over my career at Deloitte, I have been involved in the implementation of Deloitte’s first email and voicemail systems, a project manager in the development and implementation of the earliest knowledge management products, implementation and rollout of Deloitte’s first intranet and internet site, implementation of ERP systems and a leader working with technical leaders and internal customers to understand business requirements to define, design and implement solutions. Now in my 31^st year at Deloitte, I am currently responsible for leading the annual assessment of information technology controls over financial reporting for the Deloitte’s U.S. Firms. I am an active leader in Deloitte’s STEM programs, focused on promoting and encouraging students — particularly women — to pursue a STEM career.