Susan LaMotte

Founder + CEO
Charleston, SC, USA
Susan is the Founder, CEO and Principal Strategist at exaqueo. As CEO and Principal Brand Strategist, she shares her time between leading our business, and strategic consulting with our global clients. At exaqueo, she has worked directly with senior leaders at organizations including T-Mobile, CVS Health, CBRE, Zillow, and Baxter Healthcare. Her work at exaqueo includes creating the Whole Self Model, pioneering the concept of source of influence over source of hire, creating the industry’s next generation candidate experience model, and finally taking the industry beyond EVP to a new approach to employer brand.
Get to Know Susan

At age 13 I was fired from my first job. At age 14, I got my first W-2 and never looked back. I had 16 different jobs all before graduating college. Since then, I’ve made a career about the meaning, value and relationship we have with work, and how to find and keep talent in organizations.

I've spent over two decades in human resources, recruiting, employer brand, and talent strategy studying the intersection between business and behavior. From in-house recruiting to career services and talent acquisition functional management to in-house employer brand leadership, I've seen all corners of employment.

Prior to starting exaqueo, I was the global employer brand leader for Marriott International and The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. I was compelled to start exaqueo because HR was missing a major opportunity to build relationships with candidates and employees the same way organizations do with customers--something
I pioneered at Marriott.

Employer brand should be the driver of your business and talent strategy. Successful employer brands are not about stereotypes or assumptions. I love that our work is grounded in authenticity and our clients aren’t afraid to share strengths and realities. Our research methodologies and process at exaqueo allow us to dig so deeply into who employees are and how they feel. I'm known for being on the leading edge of employer brand and testing and tempting our clients and the industry to push boundaries and go farther than they’d imagined.

As a working mother and entrepreneur, I’m also passionate about women at work – the challenges they face and how organizations can respond and shift to adapt to the changing needs of new generations.

Outside of work, my energy goes to my family first – my husband and two children (ages 5 and 8). We take advantage of the outdoors around our home here in Charleston, South Carolina, whenever and however we can.
I also love yoga, music, football, and a really great front porch.

Education

MBA, Human Capital and Marketing and Dean’s Scholar
The Owen Graduate School of Management
Vanderbilt University

MA, Human Resource and Organization Development
The George Washington University

BA, Communications and Public Relations
Virginia Tech

Industry Experience

Marriott International, Global Employer Brand and Marketing Leader

The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company, Talent Acquisition and Employer Brand

CEB (now Gartner), HR Practice Client Leadership

The Home Depot, Talent Management and Employer Brand

Johns Hopkins University, Career Services

Arthur Andersen, Staffing and Recruiting

My First Paycheck

Working at the Rose Tree Swim Club Snack Bar, (I got fired for forgetting to come to work!) and customer service at the Drug Emporium.

Insight

Harvard Business Review The Whole Self Model

HR Examiner The People Refrain, Caught in the Chorus of Talent 

Wharton Radio In the Workplace with Susan LaMotte

Candidate Experience Awards CandEs shop talk with Susan LaMotte 

NPR/APM’s Marketplace How Communications Tools Change the Workplace