Susan Ershler

About the Author

Susan Ershler knows a thing or two about taking things to new heights. Ershler and her husband Phil, a professional mountain guide, received worldwide media attention including Good Morning America, Today, CNN, and the New York Times after becoming the first couple in history to conquer the Seven Summits, the highest mountain on each of the world’s seven continents.  Ershler had only started climbing in her mid-30s, training by climbing the 35 stories in her high-rise office building on her lunch hour for a year — with a 40-pound pack on her back. When a cancer diagnosis threatened to end Phil’s mountain-climbing, the couple set out on their remarkable Seven Summits journey, which culminated at the top of Mount Everest — 29,035 feet — on May 16, 2002.

Ershler, the fourth American woman to climb the Seven Summits and 12th American woman to climb Mt. Everest,  also has vast experience as a successful business and sales executive. During her 23-year corporate career she has held leadership positions in several Fortune 500 companies, leading teams to sales records, beating quotas from $1 million to $600 million. Ending as a vice president of sales for a multi-national telecommunications company, she was responsible for the company’s fast-growing Internet division.