Biography

KATHLEEN M. SHANAHAN is a prominent Florida businesswoman with a long and distinguished background in business, politics and public service. Ms. Shanahan has recently been named co-CEO of Turtle & Hughes, an electrical and industrial distribution company headquartered in Linden, New Jersey. Prior, she was the Chairman of Ground Works Solutions, previously known as URETEK Holdings, Inc. Ground Works Solutions is a Florida based company focused on soil stabilization and densification for infrastructure rehabilitation. From 2011 until 2016, Ms. Shanahan served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the company.

Ms. Shanahan currently serves as a Vice Chair of the Florida Council of 100, pro bono advisor to the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence, board member of BioIQ, board member of the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART), board member of Tampa General Hospital, board member & Executive Vice President of Marketing for Turtle & Hughes, and is a member of Women Corporate Directors and the International Women’s Forum.

Previously, Ms. Shanahan was Chairman and CEO of WRScompass, a civil and environmental construction company that experienced significant growth under her leadership from 2005 through 2011. Prior to her executive management posts, Ms. Shanahan was a senior consultant to former New York Stock Exchange CEO John Thain, and a senior executive in charge of public and community affairs at PaineWebber.

Her positions in federal and state public policy include serving as Chief of Staff for Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Chief of Staff to Vice President-elect Dick Cheney, Deputy Secretary of the California Trade and Commerce Agency, Special Assistant to then Vice President George Bush, and Staff Assistant on President Reagan’s National Security Council.

Ms. Shanahan previously served as a member and Chair of Florida’s State Board of Education, the Eckerd Board, the Lincoln Center Institute Board, member of the National Parks Foundation Board – a Presidential appointment, executive cabinet member of the American Heart Association’s Tampa Bay Heart Ball, executive committee member of the Republican National Convention 2012 Tampa Bay Host Committee, member of the Terra Sea board, a Great Lakes Dock & Dredge company with Belgian based DEME/DEC, a board member of TRC (NYSE:TRR), which was later taken private after being acquired by a private equity firm, and as Chair of the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission.

In recent years, Ms. Shanahan has been honored with the Tampa Bay Business Journal’s Inaugural Community Leader Award at the 2012 Business Woman of the Year Gala. In 2011 she received the Governor’s Business Leader Award, and in 2010 she was awarded the Foundation for Excellence in Education’s Arts for Life! Guardian of the Arts Award.

Ms. Shanahan received her undergraduate degree in biochemistry from the University of California, San Diego and a Master’s of Business Administration from the New York University Stern School of Management.