Shannon W. McFayden
Shannon McFayden has invested over 30 years in helping leaders and organizations drive results. She is
known for her expertise in leadership effectiveness, communications, talent management and organizational
culture.
Shannon was Executive Vice President and Head of Human Resources & Corporate Relations for Wachovia
Corporation, the nation's 4th largest financial institution in 2008, with $764 billion in assets and 120,000
employees globally. In this role, she provided leadership for Human Resources, Corporate Communications,
Community Relations and Marketing.
After retiring in 2009, she spent several years consulting with corporate, small business, educational and
non-profit leaders. In 2015, she phased out her consulting business joined technology and marketing
company, Red Ventures as a Leadership Advisor to CEO Ric Elias and his senior leadership team.
Named one of the "25 Most Powerful Women in Banking" by US Banker, Shannon has also been recognized
with the United Negro College Fund's "Maya Angelou Women Who Lead" Award, the Thurgood Marshall
College Fund's "Award of Excellence", and the Dress for Success "Paradigm Award".
She also has a long history of deep community engagement. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees
and the Executive Committee for Davidson College, as well as the Advisory Boards for Golden Door Scholars
and Davidson's Vann Center for Ethics and Honor. She is the immediate past Chair of the Davidson College
Board of Visitors and recently completed three terms on the Board of Directors for the Levine Museum of the
New South where she was on the Executive Committee, and chaired the Nominating/Governance and Human
Resources Committees. She also chaired the Board of Trustees for Charlotte Country Day School. Prior
community leadership roles have included serving as an Executive in Residence for the McColl School of
Business at Queens University of Charlotte, chairing the board for the Teach For America Charlotte Region,
and serving on the boards of the United Negro College Fund, Presbyterian Healthcare Foundation, Novant
Medical Group, Community School of the Arts, Charlotte Mecklenburg Education Foundation, Child Care
Resources (Chair,) the Capital Campaign Planning Board (Chair) and KinderMourn (Chair.) She was
appointed by North Carolina Governor Beverly Purdue to serve on the Board of Trustees of Central Piedmont
Community College, and she received a Mayoral Appointment as an Equal Opportunity Commissioner in
Jacksonville, Florida, where she also served on the Boards of the Museum of Science and History, and South
Jax Presbyterian Preschool (Chair.) She was also the co-founder of the North Carolina Conference for Women.
Shannon graduated cum laude from Davidson College in 1982. She is married to Greg (Davidson Class of '83)
and they have two daughters.