Sue Walpole completed her tertiary education in New South Wales. She qualifed in Law and Jurisprudence at the University of New South Wales in 1977 and in 1987 completed a Diploma in Media Management at Macquarie University's Graduate School of Management.

She has worked in Industrial Relations as a national industrial officer with the Administrative and Clerical Officers Association. In 1985 she was employed as a Commonwealth public servant before accepting a position with the Australian Broadcasting Commission as Federal Head of Human Resources for Television.

On completion of her role as Sex Discrimination Commissioner in 1997, in 1999 she took on the position of Manager of the Industry Fund and Business Development at SuperPartners. In 2002 she held the position of Chief Executive Officer of the Legal Practice Board of Victoria and in 2006 she was appointed General Counsel and Company Secretary at Unisuper. At the same time she was a member of several boards including the Nurses Board of Victoria, Westernport Water Board, Victoria Legal Aid, Zena Women's Services and VicForests. She is currently a Member of the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal.

Sources used to compile this entry: From Lady Denman to Katy Gallagher: A Century of Women's Contributions to Canberra, Australian Women's Archives Project, February 2013, http://www.womenaustralia.info/exhib/ldkg; Walpole, Susan, Federal sex discrimination act, Leo Cussen Institute, Melbourne, Vic., 1996, 22 pp.