Shannon Steffes

Shannon began her professional career as a 2002 Teach For America - New Mexico Corps member where she taught 5th-grade to over 150 amazing students at Rocky View Elementary in Gallup, New Mexico for six years. After her time in the classroom, she went on to manage the Regional Quality Center, a continuous improvement wing of Gallup-McKinley County Schools. It was here that she first saw the impact of knowledge management on schools and on students and fell in love with solving the associated problems. This inspired her to return to school part-time a the University of New Mexico to pursue a Master’s Degree in Organizational Learning and Information Sciences, with a concentration in Knowledge Management.  

She is currently the Senior Managing Director of Org-Wide Knowledge Management at Teach For America. Her work focuses on helping Teach For America worker smarter, faster, and with more confidence by spreading strong KM practice and solving pressing KM problems with her incredible teammates and a host of partners and knowledge workers. She believes deeply that this work is not only a means to make a stronger intellectual organization, but one that promotes equity practices, and is working to build the case of how non-profits can provide their people world-class KM on a shoestring budget.

She also holds an M.A. in Elementary Education (University of New Mexico) and a B.A.s in History and French (University of Montana). She lives with her husband, Alan, and her Pitbull, Raven, in enchanting Albuquerque, NM.