Shannon has over 25 years of experience creating and expanding social services for families, most recently as the Executive Vice President of Strategy, Innovation, and Clinical Services at Volunteers of America where she worked for 18 years.

Some recent examples of her work include the following: She developed a comprehensive program serving children with incarcerated parents, their caregivers, and their re-entering parents which received national recognition by Annie E. Casey Family Foundation as a Promising Practice for the positive outcomes for families of color.

She assisted Sesame Street’s® Little Children, Big Challenges™ series with the development of a character with an incarcerated parent and presented with their team at a United States Senate Briefing on the effects of parental incarceration on the lives of children.

She created a unique program in collaboration with the Indiana Department of Child Services serving pregnant women and mothers of newborns and small children affected by substance use disorder, increasing the numbers of babies born without the ill-effects of withdrawal and keeping mothers and babies safely together.

She is a Licensed Social Worker, Licensed Counselor, and received her master’s degree in Social Work from Indiana University. She completed a 2-year non-profit Executive Development Program at the University of Notre Dame, Mendoza School of Business and an Executive Leadership Program from American Express™.

She is a member of the Ball State University Department of Social Work’s Advisory Board, the Healthy Families Indiana Think Tank, and the Indiana Perinatal Quality Improvement Collaboration.

She was a recipient of the Hero of Recovery Award from Mental Health America of Indiana in 2018 and the Community Service Award from Drug Free Marion County in 2013.

She is life-long Hoosier who grew up in rural Indiana and lives in Indianapolis with her husband and teenage son. She enjoys traveling, hiking, and running.