Susanne “Charli” Buchberger, as senior vice president of organic growth at HFW, leads enterprise-wide growth initiatives focused on strengthening collaboration across HFW’s network of architecture and engineering firms and accelerating sustainable, firm-led growth.
With more than 25 years of experience rooted in consulting and professional services, Charli brings a strategic, disciplined approach to growth leadership centered on long-term value creation, repeatable revenue expansion, and measurable performance outcomes across markets and disciplines. A civil and environmental engineer by training and a growth strategist by practice, Charli has spent the majority of her career advising senior leadership teams on organizational growth, market expansion, and performance improvement.
Prior to joining HFW, she served as strategist and director of business development at SmithGroup, an integrated national design firm, where she partnered closely with enterprise and regional leaders to shape growth strategy, align markets and disciplines, unlock cross-market opportunities, and significantly strengthen pursuit performance nationwide. Her work drove tangible organic growth by improving market focus, increasing win rates, deepening key client relationships, and enabling teams to pursue larger, more complex and multi-disciplinary projects.
Earlier in her career, Charli mostly held senior leadership roles at global business and financial consulting firms including Arthur Andersen, Marsh McLennan, and Deloitte. In those roles, she advised Fortune 500 and middle-market clients on environmental risk management, strategic planning, sustainability, and complex transaction-related challenges.
Charli earned a Master of Science in Environmental Engineering, graduating cum laude, from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and an Associate of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, graduating magna cum laude. She also earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater, graduating cum laude. She is based in Chicago.