Shannon K. Knight, before breaking into the world of consulting, was the Director of Special Projects at the RISD Museum in Providence, Rhode Island. The title was intentionally vague, as Shannon’s role covered a lot of ground over her almost six years at the Museum. She started out shepherding the Museum’s AAM reaccreditation to a successful completion and moved on to provide an analysis of the exhibition process, identifying ways in which the different departments could work together more efficiently. Shannon served for 1.5 years as the Interim Assistant Director where she managed exhibitions; drafted internal documentation such as the Museum Style Guide; published articles on such topics as data integrity; organized decades of old constituent records; and oversaw the refinishing of the Museum’s cherished grand piano. (She’ll be happy to talk with you about lacquer and its relationship to the South American cotton industry!)
Prior to starting at the RISD Museum, Shannon spent fifteen years in the software industry, working at various times as a program manager, a QA engineer, and a database administrator. She managed a wide variety of teams and has extensive experience helping "problem" groups to become successful.
When not working, Shannon volunteers at her daughter’s school, watches classic cinema like National Lampoon's Vacation or Die Hard with her husband, paddles on a Dragon Boat team, and takes long walks with her two dogs. She also occasionally sits down to read an actual book or sing and play guitar.