Shannon Donnelly

Shannon Donnelly grew up primarily in Long Beach, Indiana and attended college at Princeton University, where she graduated with a degree in Politics and a certificate in Political Economy; her studies focusing on racial politics and education policy fostered her strong drive for social justice. In her senior year, Shannon began working for Teach For America as a campus recruiter, and after graduation she moved to Washington DC and joined full-time staff at Teach For America. She worked at TFA for over twelve years on operations for teacher training, ultimately leading the National Institute Operations team for seven years.

Shannon moved back to northwest Indiana in October 2013, settling in Chesterton. In March 2016, she joined Chicago Collegiate Charter School as their Chief Operating Officer. Chicago Collegiate serves grades 5-12 in Roseland, on the far South Side of Chicago, and its vision is that 100% of all students will graduate from college within 6 years of their high school graduation. Shannon spent over six years running finances, human resources, legal compliance, and school operations systems for the network, working on a local level to expand educational opportunities for a high-needs student population in an area with only a 2% college graduation rate.

Shannon was thrilled to join Bottom Line in 2022 and have the opportunity to help increase college graduation rates for students of color from under-resourced communities, as she strongly believes (and has witnessed) that education – a college degree in particular – has the potential to be the great equalizing factor, granting access out of poverty and leading us closer to our vision for social justice for our nation. Shannon and her husband Corey have a blended family that includes four daughters, and after experiencing the public school system from a parent’s perspective, Shannon is even more committed to educational equity and expanding opportunities for all students.