Work with a Purpose: OSU alum’s agricultural roots shape her path in business and philanthropy
Friday, December 19, 2025
Media Contact: Sophia Fahleson | Digital Communications Specialist | 405-744-7063 | sophia.fahleson@okstate.edu
Raised around cattle and community, Susanne Wasson turned her agricultural background into a lifelong career in business and leadership.
Originally from Odessa, Texas, she later moved with her family to Poteau, Oklahoma, where she grew up raising Santa Gertrudis cattle.
In 1984, Susanne Wasson graduated high school. Inspired by her agricultural background and father Robert “Bob” Wasson, an Oklahoma State University alum, she decided to study agricultural economics and accounting at OSU.
In 1988, Susanne Wasson graduated with her bachelor’s from OSU and pursued a master’s degree at Texas A&M University in agricultural economics.
After working for 32 years at Corteva Agriscience, Susanne Wasson retired in 2022 as president of the company’s crop protection business platform. Her career took her from Indianapolis to living abroad in the United Kingdom and Irish Republic.
“Susanne is a forward-thinker,” said Cheryl DeVuyst, OSU agricultural economics department head and professor. “She quickly advanced through the ranks while at Dow AgroSciences and Corteva.”
At first, Susanne Wasson said she believed accounting was the career she wanted to pursue. However, her experience in accounting those first few years curated her interest in sales, she added.
“I worked to try to find an opportunity in sales,” Susanne Wasson said. “You have to be responsible for your career; no one else is going to be.”
After a few years, Susanne Wasson was hired as a sales territory representative for Dow AgroSciences in Wichita, Kansas, where she sold crop protection products and range and pasture herbicides.
“I loved it! I really loved the company, what we were trying to do by helping farmers feed the world and bringing them new technology to do so,” Susanne Wasson said.
She intended to only be away from home for a few years with dreams of moving close to home, Susanne Wasson finally made her dream a reality, as she moved back to Oklahoma, she said.
“Ms. Wasson is instrumental in partnering with other employees to pool scholarship dollars for our students,” DeVuyst said. “This all began at a time when it was atypical for women to be in leadership of agriculture and crop protection businesses.”
Susanne Wasson, also a Tri Delta alum, oversees fundraising for the new Tri Delta house set to go under construction in 2026 near the OSU campus. She remains active with Women for OSU, OSU Alumni Association and OSU Foundation.
She also provided funding to support the new Claudia’s Career Closet set to open January 2026 next to Pete’s Pantry in the Student Union.
“She brings a very well-rounded, philanthropic personality to the table, and I think everyone she’s ever met or been in a room with, is impressed,” said Teresa Gustafson, OSU Foundation senior director of development and OSU Agriculture team lead.
Susanne Wasson said her father Bob Wasson, remains a role model in her continuing efforts to the support university students.
Bob Wasson’s outgoing personality helped inspire Susanne Wasson to break out of her shell in college and join multiple clubs and a sorority, she said, adding she learned how to talk to people and make connections.
Susanne Wasson and her sister, Diana Sowder, began the J. Robert Wasson Scholarship in Agriculture in memory of their father with the intent to help support Ferguson College of Agriculture students who transfer from Connors State College, in Warner, Oklahoma.
“My dad was a big influence in my life because he and my grandmother always spoke about giving back to people,” Susanne Wasson said. “Their philanthropy was quiet. They didn’t talk about it. They didn’t make a big deal, and it wasn’t for the recognition. They did it because it was the right thing for them to do.”
Susanne Wasson and her sister were a part of the campaign for the new Agricultural Hall and named the Wasson Ranches Conference room in memory of their father.
“He was always a big, out-of-the-box thinker, in terms of marketing and working with people,” Susanne Wasson said of her father. “He was always a people person; there was no one he didn’t know.”
Story by: Jonna Mccullough | Cowboy Journal