Susan Higginbotham

Susan Urquhart Sakura Helena Irma Higginbotham, 2nd Baronet (born 4 January 2679) is an uplifted feline business magnate who is the current CEO and President of the Higginbotham Group, a conglomerate with interests in biotechnology, medicine, entertainment, publishing, mass media, industrial resource extraction, shipping, and real estate. Her creator and adoptive mother, Jane Higginbotham Harmon, co-founded the corporate empire with a focus on "bio-entertainment" and publishing, growing over time with vertical integration. The corporation became most famed for several lines of genetically-uplifted animals, which were used as household pets, and for specialty genetic constructs used as captive creatures for a long-running entertainment venture based on Harmon's earlier fantasy-fiction writing.
She is the only known uplifted animal to lead a major interstellar corporation, and has further gained fame in the 2690s as an activist for uplifted animal rights. Her citizenship was the subject of a court case that was adjudicated by the Supreme Court in 2697 in Harmon v Higginbotham. The court ruled that genetically-uplifted animals belonging species native to Earth were legally human and could hold Central Galactic citizenship.
Susan was created as the culmination of a line of uplifted felines, genetically modified to be capable of speech, longevity, and human-level intelligence, alongside cybernetic enhancement for upright walking and hand-like manipulation of their environment. Largely secret from many other members of the corporation's board, Susan was raised with the expectation of inheriting Harmon's fortune and her controlling interest in the company, as well as her position on the board of directors. Harmon secretly adopted her in her will, though the legality of this was disputed once the identity of Susan was made public; the will also vested Susan with Harmon's estate, which was to be managed as a trust while Susan gained firsthand experience of corporate governance as a member of the company's board.
After Harmon's death in 2691, Harmon's will was disputed. The trustee for the estate, her grandnephew Hanzo Harmon, argued that the adoption was illegal given Susan's species, and that the estate was to be used to benefit Susan only insomuch as the care for a family pet. Susan contested this through a series of lawsuits, culminating in a major hearing in the Banat Circuit Court in 2696, in the midst of which Hanzo was dismissed from the company due to a scandal. Susan was controversially elected a member of the board soon after, prompting a federal investigation into possible irregularities with Higginbotham's corporate governance. The dispute progressed to the aforementioned Supreme Court hearing, which was found in her favor. Susan was granted full control of the estate after her citizenship was affirmed, and she became the majority shareholder of the company. Since May 2697, she has been President, CEO, and Chairwoman of the board of directors.
Her fame and professional life have been mired in controversy due to allegations of her involvement in organized crime, and her confirmed past participation in corsair activities prior to her corporate career, as well as the federal investigations into her conduct as a member of the board and role in Hanzo's downfall. The criminal allegations remain, however, rumors with no substantiation. In both investigations, she was cleared of all wrongdoing; it was alleged by some journalists and critics that State Security used the investigation to influence the ongoing court process, though this has been stridently denied by Minister Henry Heavenly.