Shannan Williams-Mitchem, MPP

Shannan Williams-Mitchem, MPP has a long and varied work experience. Shannan began their career in 2005 as Governor's Public Service Fellow at the Maryland State Department of Education, where they researched and presented policy recommendations to then-Governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. on solutions to prevent dropout among secondary school children. In 2007, they moved to the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development as a Research Analyst. In 2008, they joined the City of Chicago as a Mayoral Fellow, researching and presenting recommendations to senior mayoral and departmental staff on strengthening youth and technology and science education programming for a multi-agency workforce development initiative. Shannan also drafted and compiled the City of Chicago's progress in its action agenda for achieving universal access of Chicago's residents, businesses, and visitors to digital technologies and the internet. From 2009 to 2013, they worked at Booz Allen Hamilton, first as an Associate and then as a Senior Consultant, serving as lead facilitator for several multi-agency working groups within the federal government. Shannan designed membership selection, meeting agendas, and plans to reduce group conflict and achieve consensus, as well as directed strategy to develop work group outputs from start to finish. From 2013 to 2022, they worked at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as a Project Manager in the Special Programs Office, supporting the oversight of cutting-edge research and standards development projects. Shannan also acted as a liaison to NIST scientists and a key point of contact to the external stakeholder community, operating in a high profile and quickly changing environment as a NIST representative in professional organizations, national commissions, working groups, and standards development organizations. Currently, they are the Director of Community Outreach and Research at Ready.net, and the Deputy Director of the Office of Minority Broadband Initiatives at the US Department of Commerce, NTIA.

Shannan Williams-Mitchem obtained a B.A. in Political Science with minors in Writing and Africana Studies from the University of Maryland Baltimore County in 2007. In 2006, they attended Princeton University as a Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) Fellow. Shannan then went on to obtain their MPP from Harvard Kennedy School in 2009. In 2011, they obtained a Change Management Advanced Practitioner (CMAP) Certificate from Georgetown University McDonough School of Business.