Shannon Donnelly grew up primarily in Long Beach, Indiana and attended Princeton University, graduating with a degree in Politics and a certificate in Political Economy. Her studies focused on racial politics and education policy and fueled a strong drive for social justice. In her senior year, she began working for Teach For America as a campus recruiter, then moved to Washington, DC after graduation to join the full time staff, spending more than twelve years supporting teacher training operations and ultimately leading the National Institute Operations team for seven years.

Shannon returned to northwest Indiana in October 2013, settling in Chesterton. In March 2016, she joined Chicago Collegiate Charter School as Chief Operating Officer, overseeing finances, human resources, legal compliance, and school operations for the grades 5 to 12 network in Roseland on Chicago’s far South Side. She spent over six years building systems and expanding opportunities for a high needs student population in an area with a 2 percent college graduation rate, supporting the school’s vision that 100 percent of students will graduate from college within six years of high school graduation.

In 2022, Shannon was thrilled to join Bottom Line to help increase college graduation rates for students of color from under resourced communities. She believes and has witnessed that a college degree can be a powerful equalizer, expanding access out of poverty and advancing social justice. Shannon and her husband Corey have a blended family with four daughters, and experiencing public schools as a parent has deepened her commitment to educational equity for all students.