Suzanne Bates

Suzanne Bates is an executive coach, author, keynote speaker, former award-winning television news anchor, and CEO of Bates Communications, Inc. She launched the firm in 2000 after a successful career in major market television. Today, Bates Communications has a team of seasoned consultants who improve their clients' businesses by transforming leaders into powerful communicators who get business results. Bates Communications offers strategic communications consulting, executive coaching, workshops, executive presence seminars and boot camps. Clients include Dow Chemical, Fidelity, Mellon/Bank of NY, John Hancock, VF Outdoor, Cabot Corp., Sun Life, EMC, Blue Cross Blue Shield, The North Face, and Stop and Shop.

Suzanne is author of Speak Like a CEO: Secrets for Commanding Attention and Getting Results (McGraw Hill), which became a bestseller on amazon.com in 2005. The book has also been published in Chinese, Russian and Indonesian.

Her second book, Motivate Like a CEO: Communicate Your Strategic Vision and Inspire People to Act!, was published in January 2009, also with McGraw Hill. Within weeks of its release, the book became a #1 bestseller in books on communication skills, and a business bestseller on amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com. The book has received accolades from highly regarded business authors such as Ken Blanchard (The One Minute Manager), Marshall Goldsmith (What Got You Here Won't Get You There), and Charles H. Green (The Trusted Advisor). Her other products include the Speak Like a CEO Toolkit, the Speak Like a CEO Home Study Course, and a course on How to Make a Name in Business.

For 20 years, Suzanne was an acclaimed on-air personality with major market television stations WBZ-TV Boston, WCAU-TV Philadelphia and WFLA-TV Tampa-St. Petersburg. She won an AP News Award and was nominated for a Columbia DuPont Award, and, over her career, interviewed thousands of political leaders, CEOs, authors and celebrities. As a nationally recognized expert in business communications and leadership, Suzanne has appeared in hundreds of publications including the New York Times, New York Post, Business Week, Investors' Business Daily, the Boston Globe, and the Boston Business Journal. She routinely publishes articles on leadership and communication in her organization's monthly newsletter, The Voice of Leadership.

Suzanne pioneered an executive coaching program model focused on leadership and communication. The program includes proprietary tools including the 40-Point Leadership Communications Assessment and 360 Feedback Questionnaire, which guides the professional development of leaders. This coaching model has been used with high potential leaders who must master the ability to communicate effectively in order to move their organizations forward.

Suzanne also developed the Quick Prep Method, the Audience Agenda System, and other tools that are taught in Bates' boot camps and workshops. She has developed more than a dozen workshops including The 7 Elements of Executive Presence, Powerful Presentation Skills, Leading Great Meetings, Your Communication Style, and How to Give Great Media Interviews.

Suzanne is an active member of many organizations. She is currently on the board of the New England Chapter of the National Speakers Association, and is a candidate for the professional designation of CSP, Certified Speaking Professional. She is a member of the CEO Club of Boston College, and a member of the Women's Presidents Organization. She is past president of the Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus. Suzanne earned a B.S. in Radio-TV Journalism from the University of Illinois. She lives in Wellesley, Mass. with her husband and daughter.