Shelley Davis

Shelley Davis


Shelley Davis joined the Forest Preserve Foundation as its inaugural executive director in 2013. As a seasoned leader in Chicago’s philanthropic and nonprofit sectors, Shelley has devoted her career to promoting a higher quality of life and equal opportunities for low-income communities. Shelley’s work has included: counseling domestic violence survivors, advocating for nontraditional, high-wage construction work for women, and evaluating and recommending more than $25 million in grants to nonprofit groups engaged in policy advocacy, community organizing, human services and the arts. Currently, Shelley is a lecturer at The University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, where she focuses on the public policy impact of nonprofit and philanthropic organizations