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Susan Erburu Reardon is Principal of True North Charitable Advising, which she established in 2022 to provide philanthropic advice to individuals and consulting services to nonprofit organizations, with a particular focus on arts and culture and public media organizations. Reardon was a nonprofit executive for 15 years with KCET, the independent community public television resource for Southern and Central California (now part of PBS SoCal). She joined KCET in 1997 as its Senior Vice President and General Counsel. In 2004, Reardon was promoted to Executive Vice President and General Counsel, assuming the additional responsibility for obtaining grants for programming, production and general operations from federal and state government agencies and from charitable and corporate foundations. From December 2010 through October 2012, she served as Chief Development Officer, with overall responsibility for management of KCET’s fundraising efforts, including planned giving, major gifts, foundations and government grants, membership (annual giving), corporate underwriting and special events.  

From September 2013 through May 2022, Reardon served as Director, Gift Planning of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association (LA Phil). In this role, she created and managed a reinvigorated legacy giving program. During her tenure, she built legacy giving at LA Phil into a four-person dedicated Office of Gift Planning. As its leader, Reardon had overall responsibility for all solicitation, documentation, recognition and stewardship of legacy gifts, working with donors and their financial and legal advisors. She also devised, implemented and coordinated marketing, communications and stewardship plans for the LA Phil’s legacy society, the William Andrews Clark Society. From December 2015 through April 2020, Reardon was responsible for management oversight of the LA Phil’s major and principal gifts fundraising and its prospect management and research functions. In January and February 2020, she served as Interim Vice President, Advancement following the retirement of Kathleen Kane as its Chief Advancement Officer.

Reardon is a current member in good standing of the California State Bar, and has 43 years of experience as an attorney, including with the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where she practiced law for 17 years and was a firm litigation partner for seven years. She has served as a trustee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association (LACBA) and as Chair of LACBA’s Corporate Law Department Section. She is a current member of the Los Angeles Council of Charitable Gift Planners (LACGP) and the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners.

Reardon currently serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of PBS SoCal, where she is Chair of its Advancement Committee and a member of the Executive Committee; as Vice Chair of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, as a Trustee and Chair of the Advancement Committee of Idyllwild Arts Foundation; as Chair of the Board of Directors of Lorelei Ensemble; and as a Director of the Pfaffinger Foundation. Throughout her work career, Reardon also served on the Boards of numerous arts and culture organizations, including as a member of the Board of the Los Angeles Master Chorale Association since March 1992 and as its Vice Chair, Strategic Initiatives from 2013-2018; as a member of the Board of Directors of Chorus America from 2006-2018; and as a member of the board of the Radcliffe Choral Society Foundation (RCSF) from 2011-2018, serving as RCSF’s President from 2015-2017.

Reardon graduated with her A.B. in History magna cum laude from Radcliffe College (Harvard University) in 1977 and received her J.D. in 1980 from Harvard Law School. She completed all course work in the Certified Specialist in Planned Giving program in 2015. As of 2023, she completed all course work and received certification from the American College of Financial Services as a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP).

Reardon and her husband George are longtime residents of South Pasadena, California and have a summer home in Stonington, Maine. They have two adult children and two granddaughters.