Employee Spotlight: Susan Brock – MS Society

For unknown reasons, the Pacific Northwest has one of the highest incidence rates of multiple sclerosis in the entire world. In Washington, 180 per 100,000 people are known to live with the disease. In response to the high numbers, the Greater Northwest Chapter of the National MS Society is one of the most active groups within the organization, serving over 12,000 people living with MS in Washington, Montana, and Alaska. The regional chapter funds research and provides a wide range of support for people with MS and their families, from education and care management to financial assistance and advocacy.

Susan Brock, an Account Manager in our Commercial division, has been an active volunteer with the Greater Northwest Chapter since 2004. She focuses primarily on advocacy because it is an essential component of the organization’s ability to effect change; she is dedicated to making MS a local, state, and national priority through periodic meetings with public officials. Susan is the immediate past-chair of the Chapter’s Subcommittee on Activism and participates in Washington’s Annual Day of Activism in Olympia, where she shares the most pressing needs of the MS community with policymakers. Susan has also traveled to the other Washington for the National Society’s annual Public Policy Conference. Her advocacy work has resulted in tangible results that improve the lives of people with MS and their caretakers. One of the chapter’s most recent lobbying successes resulted in obtaining federal funding for the Lifespan Respite Care Act, which will provide grants to state agencies for providing short-term temporary relief for family-member caregivers.

Susan participates in the annual MS Walk and she would welcome your support for her team (Go Team Gleason!) in 2012.

As a firm, we are actively involved in our community, contributing time and money to organizations, and we encourage our staff to get involved on an individual basis. Susan exemplifies our commitment and we are proud of her work—and successes—with the regional chapter of the National MS Society.

For more information about the Greater Northwest Chapter of the National MS Society, visit http://www.nationalmssociety.org/chapters/WAS/index.aspx

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