Dana Vickers Shelley

Dana Vickers Shelley brings strategic communications and political advocacy expertise, plus a lifelong commitment to racial justice, to her leadership of the ACLU of Maryland. In Dana’s first three years at ACLU-MD, the organization has been developing its first strategic plan, prioritizing education equity, voting rights, immigrants’ rights, government and police accountability, and making the state’s legal justice system more equitable.

She leads a 28-person team of attorneys, organizers, communicators, and policy strategists to support the empowerment of Marylanders in exercising their rights so the law values and uplifts their humanity.

Before ACLU, Dana advised numerous national and local organizations, including the NAACP, Annie E. Casey Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Black Entertainment Television (BET) Networks, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Nike, and S.C. Johnson. She developed national partnerships with Black, Indigenous, and Latinx journalist organizations to raise awareness of structural racism and disparities in child welfare systems. Her public affairs background includes senior leadership positions with Edelman, Fenton, Black Enterprise Magazine, and the Clinton Administration.

Dana earned a Master of Public Administration degree from American University’s Key Executive Leadership Program and a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism and mass communication from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Originally from the Midwest, Dana lives in Baltimore County, Maryland, with her husband Bob Glasner, a Vietnam Era Purple Heart recipient.