Saint Mary’s helps Shelton-Davies transform
Hannah (Friedrich) Shelton-Davies B’16, M’20 communicates for a living; in fact, her entire job is about meeting new people and building relationships. You’d never know the outgoing fundraising professional was a self-proclaimed introvert in high school.
She has found that life has led her in paths she didn’t necessarily plan, but it’s all about being open to the journey.
Back in high school, she didn’t know she wanted to attend Saint Mary’s until a friend asked Shelton-Davies to help her move onto its Winona Campus.
“Saint Mary’s wasn’t on my radar at all,” she admitted. “But I saw how beautiful it was, and I did a tour, and something about it really clicked. It felt right, and that’s what you hear most people say that something about it just felt like home. The campus atmosphere is very comforting.”
Shelton-Davies also didn’t know what area of study to focus on, but she found both her voice at Saint Mary’s and her majors, choosing mass communication and public relations.
“I loved college. High school wasn’t my jam, but I always say I thrived in college. I always think it was because I was at Saint Mary’s,” she said. Shelton-Davies got involved right away her first year in student activities and in Campus Ministry. “SAC (the Student Activities Committee) helped me get to know people from all different grade levels and all different areas of study. I enjoyed the camaraderie that the group was able to build. I was able to grow. I ended up being president at one point and joined the Student Senate. It kept me very busy.”
Shelton-Davies said that forcing herself to be involved really helped her grow her communication skills and build community, and she appreciates the many opportunities she had at Saint Mary’s.
After graduation, she began working at a nonprofit as an office manager, which involved wearing a number of hats, including fundraising, and Shelton-Davies found herself back at Saint Mary’s for a second degree, this time in Philanthropy and Development (P and D).
“I was looking at advancing my education, and I knew at some point I wanted to get a master’s, but I didn’t know what that was,” she said. A colleague had a relative who attended the P and D program at Saint Mary’s and spoke well of the experience, and then Shelton- Davies moved into an advancement role at Mayo Clinic. “A lot of people there had gone through the program at Saint Mary’s as well. It was a natural next step in learning more about fundraising,” she said. “I knew the caliber of the professionals that Saint Mary’s is able to acquire for professors. The P and D program has a great reputation in the fundraising industry, and there’s a great reason for it.”
In her current role as a major gift officer at Regions Hospital Foundation in Saint Paul for the past three years, Shelton-Davies said she gets to work with grateful patients who had a good experience and want to give back. She is focused on relationships with donors and grateful patients at Regions Hospital. “It’s very rewarding when you hear positive stories and amazing outcomes from people who had intense medical situations which we often hear with a level 1 trauma center, and our burn center is doing phenomenal things. These are cool stories that I get to be a part of, and that’s wonderful.”
Shelton-Davies admits she didn’t set out to be a fundraiser.
“No one grows up saying they want to be a fundraiser. No little kids say that, but I fell in love with it,” she said, adding, ”It’s relationship building. It’s listening to people’s stories and giving them the opportunity to make a difference somewhere and telling them the needs of the hospital.”
By serving on the alumni board, Shelton-Davies is giving back to her alma mater, and she’s sharing the talents she’s acquired since graduating. She has recently taken over as president.
“When I got the call that they had reviewed my application to join, I confess I couldn’t remember filling out the application, but I must have filled it out at some point,” she said with a laugh. “I love being a part of the alumni board. It allows me to be more engaged with Saint Mary’s. I think this gives me a way to use my voice to give feedback and allows a little bit of buy-in to say I’m still invested. While I can’t give financially to a significant degree, I can give my time and my talent, and that’s by giving suggestions for fundraising, sharing my leadership knowledge and skillset of being on a board. Also being one of the youngest board members, I bring that perspective to the table.
“I have the most recent experience with the campus as it is right now,” she said. “I find the meetings enriching, because I love hearing the stories of how it used to be back in the day. It sounds like a rip-roaring time. It’s also a cool way to build connections with alumni I never would have met otherwise.
“I speak to challenges the campus might be facing,” she added, adding that she feels it’s important to bring different perspectives to the table. “I stay engaged with Saint Mary’s because of the Lasallian aspect. What Lasallians believe in is, for me, what being a human is, and what life is all about. For me, it is about leading ethical lives of service and leadership.” Shelton- Davies believes everyone can believe in the Lasallian mission.
“I’m invested because I love giving back to a place that changed me so tremendously. I built my closest friendships there … I got both degrees from there. I learned a lot from all my professors. I believe in the Lasallian tradition. That is truly what it means to be a good person in the world.”
