Hudson Valley Economic Development Corp. (HVEDC) recently announced the addition of Shannon Kelly, CEO of Catholic Charities of Orange, Sul-livan and Ulster counties to the HVEDC Board of Directors.
Kelly has worked throughout the Catholic Charities network of agencies since 2007. She joined Catholic Charities of Orange, Sullivan & Ulster (CCOSU), in 2017 and has served as the organization’s CEO since 2021. She is responsible for the $15 million human service agency that offers behavioral health services, drug and alcohol prevention, food, housing and immigration programming and employs more than 100 people in a three-county service area.
Kelly has served on the boards of directors for the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York and United Tenants of Albany, as well as on the Ulster County Behavioral Health Task Force, Congressman Delgado’s Healthcare Advisory Board, and the Advisory Board for Food Bank of the Hudson Valley. She currently serves on the board of directors of the Hur-ley Recreation Association, as well as on the Orange County Community Services Board and the United Sullivan Pillar of the Sullivan County Drug Task Force, among others.
Prior to joining CCOSU, Shannon served as the director for Hudson Valley Services at Cath-olic Charities Community Services of the Archdiocese of New York, as well as director of Community Partnerships at Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Albany.
A fluent speaker of Spanish, Shannon spent several years in Latin America working with var-ious faith-based social service programs, as well as conducting research at secular non-governmental organizations.
Shannon received her Bachelor of Arts degree in government and international relations from the University of Notre Dame. She earned a master’s degree in social sciences from the Universidad de Chile.
Catholic Charities has a mission to provide help and create hope for marginalized and vul-nerable people in Orange, Sullivan and Ulster counties. The not-for-profit human service or-ganization provides school and community-based youth substance use prevention, treat-ment and recovery support to people suffering from the disease of addiction, assistance with food, shelter, and other basic needs for individuals and families struggling with poverty and help to immigrants navigating the journey to citizenship. Assistance is provided regardless of religion or ability to pay.
