Susan is a Certified Member of the Appraisers Association of America. She has extensive experience appraising artwork at the highest levels of the art market for insurance and tax & estate planning purposes. She is an AQB Certified USPAP Instructor and currently teaches USPAP as well as Appraisal Writing for the Appraisers Association.

She was the Managing Editor for the Appraiser Association’s 2024 publication Appraising Art: The Definitive Guide and co-authored the article on “Appraisal Review.” Susan is recognized for her expertise in the valuation of site-specific and public art as well as the art of California. Her article “Public Art” was included in the 2024 Appraisers Association’s Definitive Guide and her article on “California Art” was published in the 2013 edition.

A graduate of Columbia University, New York, Susan has a B.A. in Art History and Latin American studies. She began her professional career at New York’s CDS Gallery and The Americas Society. She subsequently worked at Abbeville Press, Rizzoli, and HarperCollins prior to moving to San Francisco in 1998. She spent six years as the Director of Publications and Press Relations at Hackett-Freedman Gallery and later worked at Montgomery Gallery, one of the premier galleries for nineteenth and twentieth century European and American art in the United States. In 2009, she established McDonough Fine Art Appraisals LLC, which merged with Czudej LLC in 2023.