Whitehead represents the second generation of a renowned philanthropic family: Susan Whitehead’s father, visionary industrialist and philanthropist Edwin C. “Jack” Whitehead, founded the Institute. She is a lifetime trustee of MIT and currently serves on the boards of the Museum of Science in Boston, The Museum of Art and Photography Foundation, and is the current board chair of the Berklee College of Music. She is a former board chair of Horizons for Homeless Children, the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, Research Institute for Learning and Development, and Bayview Correctional Facility in New York. She has served as a trial attorney in private practice in Boston and an assistant district attorney in New York City; directed a clinical program at Brooklyn Law School and worked for the ACLU in Jackson, Mississippi; and developed a comprehensive education program for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. A life board member of the Institute since its founding, she currently serves on its Development and Nominating Committees.