Suzanne K Johnson
Financial Representative|MBA, CEBS®, RHU®
Personal
I am married to Dr. Paul L. Johnson O.D. who practices Optometry here in Charlotte NC and we have a daughter Sarah born in 1994 who attends Providence Day School.
Current member of St. Johns Episcopal Church.
Current member Kappa Kappa Gamma alumnae association.
I am originally from Clarksburg WV where my Dad, Eugene R. Kersting was the Managing Director for Northwestern Mutual for 35 years and a successful Northwestern Mutual Financial Rep for more than 50 years until his death in 2003.
My Dad's brother Robert W. Kersting was Managing Partner for Northwestern Mutual in Phoenix Arizona for more than 25 years until his retirement at age 65. Bob still works as a Senior Financial Rep for Northwestern Mutual in Phoenix Arizona.
My Grandfather, Eugene J. Kersting was a Managing Director with Northwestern Mutual in Clarksburg W.Va. and started with the company during the Depression in 1932.
Professional
1994: Earned CEBS designation (Certified Employee Benefit Specialist) from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
2006: Earned the RHU designation from the American College.
2008: Earned designation as Certified Long Term Care Consultant (CLTC)
1982: Earned Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from Wake Forest University Babcock School as student in full time program.
1980: Graduated with Bachelor of Science in Journalism from West Virginia University.
Work History:
1982 to 1985: Large Group sales representative with John Hancock Charlotte Sales Office. Specialized in groups with more than 200 employees for non medical group coverage sales and also self funded group medical plans with stop loss insurance.
1985 to 1987: Benefit Analyst and New Business Consultant for Johnson & Higgins Employee Benefits/Charlotte NC. (Currently part of Marsh and McLennen/Mercer). Particularly strong in new business client development.
1987 to 1991: Sales Representative for Employer Self Funded Medical programs with Third Party Administrator (TPA) CoreSource, Inc./Charlotte NC.
Successful in designing, selling and implementing self funded group medical and dental programs for more than 50 business in and around Charlotte NC. Arranged initial stop loss insurance and annually shopped the stop loss coverage as part of the TPA consulting services provided.
January 1991 to present: Employee Benefit Specialist
Education
- Wake Forest University - Business Administration (Master of Business Administration)
- West Virginia University - Journalism (Bachelor of Science Journalism)
Lending a hand in my community.
As part of Northwestern Mutual, I'm proud to help accelerate the search for better childhood cancer treatments while supporting families undergoing treatment, and survivors from late effects. Here are some of the organizations we partner with:
Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer (ALSF)
ALSF funds cancer research, raises awareness, and supports the families of children with cancer. Since 2012, Northwestern Mutual, its employees, and financial professionals like me have donated more than $20 million to support ALSF and fund over 400,000 research hours.
Beads of Courage
Beads of Courage is an art-in-medicine program that helps kids with cancer tell their unique treatment story through colorful beads that are symbols of their courage.
Women's Impact Fund
I actively serve on the Grants committee of the Women's Impact Fund which is a local philanthropy involved in identifying and funding significant needs in the area of education, health, human services, and the environment in the Charlotte NC community. The funds are a result of a common long term financial commitment by more than 350 professional and philanthropic women in our community which allows annual grants of a significant impact to be awarded to well deserving non profit groups.
Kappa Kappa Gamma
In addition I am very involved in my sorority alumnae group Kappa Kappa Gamma here in Charlotte. We are very active in fund raising for specific programs of great need in the community and among other Kappas nationwide who are in great need.
Here are my areas of expertise
Financial Planning
Insurance Protection Strategies
Life Insurance Strategies
Retirement Planning & Income Strategies
Education Planning & Funding
Disability Planning
Multigenerational Planning
Estate Planning
How Northwestern Mutual helps you live the life you want.
When people feel better about their money, good things happen—they become more confident and feel more secure. For more than 160 years, Northwestern Mutual has helped people achieve the financial flexibility they need to live more and worry less.
Being a mutual company means Northwestern Mutual reports to its clients, not Wall Street. They don't believe in chasing fads or taking undue risk for short-term gains. Instead, they take a long-term approach—both in the way we help people plan to reach their goals, and in the way they do business. This has served their clients (and mine) well through all kinds of economic ups and downs, including wars, recessions, even the recent pandemic.
It's why I'm happy to be part of a company that's in it for the long-haul and prioritizes clients over profit.
