Shelley Thompson

Shelley Thompson is the Vice President of Development for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Thompson leads an eight-person team that focuses on individual donor relations, sponsorship procurement, and foundation grants to support the $57 million organization – the nation’s largest nonprofit theatre organization, which welcomes 1.1 million patrons and educates nearly 106,000 students each year.

Thompson has 18 years of experience building relationships and raising money for a broad variety of organizations both locally and nationally. She has worked at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Women’s Foundation of Colorado, Outward Bound USA, and Colorado Community College System. She has raised millions in support of education and other causes and was most recently the Group Chief Development Officer in the Mountains and North Denver Operating Group of Centura Health where she was responsible for fundraising and community health for a six-hospital region.

Thompson’s volunteer efforts include serving on the boards of Red Rocks Community College Foundation, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance and Mi Casa Resource Center. She also is a member of the President’s Leadership Council at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Thompson served on the Englewood School Board, Englewood Housing Authority Board and was a member of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Leadership Denver Class of 2015.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Politics & Government from the University of Puget Sound and a Master of Arts Degree in Political Science from the University of Colorado. Thompson resides in Littleton with her two children and two dogs.