Sue Lienhard

Guiding Founder-Led Companies Through the Transaction Process

Sue Lienhard works with founder-led and privately held companies to prepare their businesses for market and navigate the transaction process with clarity and confidence.

She brings deep expertise in strategy, operations, and financial management, partnering closely with business owners and leadership teams to align operational performance with financial objectives.

Prior to joining Piedmont, Sue built a distinguished career spanning corporate operations, financial management, and strategic leadership. At Toyota Motor Sales, USA, she collaborated with senior leaders across all divisions, led large-scale systems implementations, and drove enterprise-wide operational and strategic planning initiatives. She also provided strategic direction, process engineering, and project management to an East Coast regional airline navigating the transition to independent operations — a complex undertaking requiring coordination across federal aviation agencies, internal leadership teams, systems, and timelines. In another senior role, she led a team of more than 200 associates and oversaw a $250 million budget, honing her ability to align people, resources, and financial objectives to drive performance.

At Piedmont, Sue’s expertise in budgeting, forecasting, change management, and operational improvement allows her to surface key value drivers and anticipate areas of risk. She brings a thoughtful, disciplined approach to every engagement — and a genuine appreciation for the fact that a successful transaction represents both a financial milestone and a deeply personal one.

Sue has an Executive MBA from Pepperdine University and a BS in Accounting from West Chester University of Pennsylvania. She resides in Atlanta and is actively involved in the community, having served on the board of Visiting Nurse Health System. An avid traveler, she has explored destinations across the globe.