Melissa Shannon
Melissa
Shannon joins Kountoupes Consulting after nearly a decade of service on
Capitol Hill and in Montana politics. She served as senior policy
advisor for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, covering a broad range
of issues, including, agriculture, education, technology,
telecommunications, labor, science, small business, and veterans
issues. Ms. Shannon started on Capitol Hill as a staff assistant for Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) in January 2001. As senior policy advisor for Speaker Pelosi, Ms. Shannon helped usher a veto-proof majority Farm Bill through Congress, worked on key veteran's issues, including passage of the largest increase in veteran's funding in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ 77 year history and the GI Bill for the 21st Century, and served as the Speaker's liaison to the Women's Caucus and the Rural Working Group. Ms. Shannon also led efforts for the Speaker on the Innovation Agenda, bringing together leaders from business, government, and academia in forums all across the country to craft the Innovation Agenda. The culmination of that work led to the passage of the America COMPETES Act which was signed into law by President Bush. After passage of COMPETES, Ms. Shannon worked closely with appropriators to set funding levels for basic research and development programs, a key commitment of the Innovation Agenda to promote private sector innovation.
Ms. Shannon came to Washington, D.C. after working in several legislative and political positions in Montana, including, state-wide field director for Nancy Keenan for Congress 2000, special projects coordinator for the Montana State Superintendent of Public Instruction, legislative aide for the Democratic Leader of the Montana House of Representatives, and legislative campaign consultant for the Montana Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.
Ms. Shannon received her B.A. in Political Science from the University of Montana, Missoula in 1998, graduating with honors.