Deputy Commissioner Sussman was born and raised on Long Island, New York. After high school, she moved to Los Angeles where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science at UCLA in 1983. She received her Juris Doctor degree at Southwestern Law School in 1986. After passing the bar, she practiced law at the personal injury/workers compensation law firm of O’Leno & O’Leno in Los Angeles, where she handled and tried a number of personal injury cases, many of which were third-party matters involving work injuries. Deputy Sussman eventually transitioned into workers compensation in the early 1990’s when she took over the handling and management of the workers compensation department after the death of one of the firm’s founding partners. She regularly appeared at the Santa Monica Workers Compensation Appeals Board on behalf of injured workers, and thereafter decided to apply to become a Workers Compensation Judge. She was hired by the State to serve as a Workers Compensation Judge in March 2005 for the Santa Monica district office, and then continued as a Workers Compensation Judge through their move to the Marina del Rey District office location through June 2022. Among other things, Judge Sussman acted as back up Presiding Judge in the Marina office to Presiding Judges Hjelle, Levy, and Palmberg, and was part of the training team for all newly hired Workers Compensation Judges for over a decade. In June 2022, she joined the WCAB as their first full-time active Workers Compensation Judge, and assisted in their informal mediation program. In November 2023, Judge Sussman was appointed as a Deputy Commissioner to the WCAB where she continues to serve.