About Sue
Sue was raised in Ferdinand, Indiana, one of six children of Tom and Betty Boeglin. She graduated from Forest Park High School in 1978, completed a degree in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University in 1982 and established a career in engineering and management at AC Spark Plug, Michelin, and Frito-Lay.
In 1986 Sue and her family returned to Evansville where she began a consulting business, Ellspermann and Associates, Inc. providing problem solving and strategic planning facilitation and training. She was the first colleague of Dr. Min Basadur, world-renowned expert in creative problem solving and founder of Basadur Applied Creativity located in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
As Sue built her practice throughout North America and locally with companies such as Kimball International, Pepsi, McCormick, and ED Smith, she completed a doctorate in Industrial Engineering at the University of Louisville focused on unstructured problem solving. Her research dissertation, “The Impact of Training on the Formulation of Ill-Structured Problems”, published in Omega: The International Journal of Management Science, was recognized as one of the Top 50 Management Articles of 2007 by Emerald Management Reviews.
While managing a thriving practice, Sue was involved with the Evansville Chamber of Commerce, Good Shepherd Parish, and the Sisters of St. Benedict of Ferdinand, among many other organizations. She has facilitated hundreds of nonprofit events ranging from strategic planning to problem solving including Indiana Right to Life, Diocese of Evansville, SIRS, Ivy Tech, Raintree Girl Scout Council, and United Way.
In 2006 Sue used her academic and consulting skills as the founding director of the University of Southern Indiana’s Center for Applied Research. Since its inception, the Center has completed over 100 projects for southwest Indiana and the state including Spencer County’s Tourism Impact Study, Tell City’s Economic Development Plan, Perry County’s Visitor and Convention Bureau’s Strategic Plan, and Dubois County Area Development Corporation’s Strategic Plan. Sue also serves on Indiana’s HomeTown Competitiveness (HTC) Resource Team and serves as the Ferdinand FHTC Site Coach.
Sue has spent the last 25 years helping corporations, nonprofits and governmental units make positive change by developing new strategic directions, crafting visions for the future and problem solving difficult issues that threaten the viability of our region. She is a facilitator of change, creativity and consensus and believes that these skills will serve southern Indiana well in the Legislature.
Sue is married to Jim Mehling, Assistant Principal of Forest Park High School. They have a blended family of four daughters: Lauren Ellspermann, a graduate of Purdue and science teacher in Louisville; Laura Mehling Wirthwein, recently married and a business major at the Community College of Southern Nevada; Grace Mehling, a junior at the University of Southern Indiana with a career goal of helping children with disabilities through horse therapy; and Kara Ellspermann, a certified EMT and a sophomore at Purdue University majoring in biomedical engineering.
Sue and Jim are members of St. Ferdinand Parish where they serve on the Strategic Planning Committee. Sue and her girls were 20 year members of Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Evansville where Sue served on the Parish Council and the Stewardship Commission and served as a Eucharistic Minister and Lector.
Sue’s Thoughts
I have an unusual background. I am a female engineer. I was the owner of my own consulting firm for almost 20 years. I have traveled internationally to serve my clients. I became a single mother of two at 40 and I became an academic at 45.
So why am I now running for office? Because I have long believed that you cannot make change from the outside. It must come from within. As a lifelong Catholic, I have served my diocese and parishes to do just that. Human institutions are not perfect. However, convicted people can make them better.
I believe there has never been a more important time to have strong public servants with the problem solving and consensus-building skills to lead our state through these turbulent times. I don’t bring a single set of answers and positions, but the ability to think through and lead others in the diligent process of identifying and then solving problems effectively.