Suzanne Russo Adams, MA, AG® is an Associate Professor of family history and the Director of the Center for Family History and Genealogy at Brigham Young University (BYU). She joined the history faculty in June 2024. Suzanne holds a BA in Family History/Genealogy and a BS in Sociology from BYU, graduating in 1998, and she earned an MA in History from BYU in 2008. Her master’s thesis, titled “Coexistence and Conflict: Popular Catholicism, the Council of Trent, and the Life Cycle in Carini, Palermo, Italy,” examines the post-Tridentine environment in a small Sicilian town. Suzanne is also an Accredited Genealogist® specializing in Italian research.
Suzanne has extensive experience in the genealogy industry, having worked for Ancestry.com for nearly 12 years. During her time at Ancestry.com, she focused on record strategy, acquisition, and content digitization, as well as public and community relations and conferences. She also worked for FamilySearch.org for over 13 years as a Senior Content Strategist, where she was responsible for record acquisition strategy in regions including the United States, Latin America, Southern Europe, the Adriatic, Australia/New Zealand, and the Pacific Isles.
Suzanne has held various leadership positions within the genealogical community. She has served as a board member for the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) and the Utah Genealogical Association (UGA), and as a commissioner for the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen). Currently, she serves as a genealogist for the Martin Harris (Lucy Harris and Caroline Young) Family Organization and as an officer in the Nathan Harris and Rhoda Lapham Family Organization. Additionally, Suzanne was a lead researcher for the first season of NBC’s "Who Do You Think You Are?" and is credited for her work on the Susan Sarandon and Brooke Shields episodes.
She is the author of "Finding Your Italian Ancestors: A Beginner’s Guide" (Ancestry, 2008) and a contributing author to "The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy," 3rd edition (2006), and "Becoming an Excellent Genealogist: Essays on Professional Research Skills" (2012). Suzanne and her husband, Steve, are the parents of four children.