Dr. Shannon's Bio

Dr. Vanessa Shannon is a certified mental performance consultant (CMPC) with over 15 years of experience. She spent the past two years as the Director of Mental Performance for the Cincinnati Reds where she worked within an integrated Health and Performance team and provided mental performance support for the major league (MLB) and AAA players and staff. 

Dr. Shannon joined the Reds in the Spring of 2022 after spending seven years as the Director of Mental Performance for the University of Louisville Athletic Department and Norton Sports Health where she supported the mental performance needs of over 600 student-athletes and 17 coaching staffs. During her 7 years at the University of Louisville the teams and student-athletes Dr. Shannon supported tallied innumerous accolades including 13 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, 2 College World Series appearances, 10 NCAA Elite 8 appearances, 4 NCAA Final Four appearances, 3 individual NCAA Championships, and 8 MLB and WNBA draftees.

Prior to Louisville, Dr. Shannon spent two years at IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL where she served as a Mental Conditioning Coach, coordinated Psychological Test Preparation for the NFL Combine Training Program, and served as a Vision Training Coach for the Major League Baseball Off-Season Training Program. 

Before transitioning into the applied sector, Dr. Shannon spent the first 8 years of her career in academia where she spent 3 years as department chair of Exercise and Sport Sciences at Tennessee Wesleyan University and 5 years as a faculty member in the Sport and Exercise Psychology Program at West Virginia University. 

Dr. Shannon has been invited to speak to teams, organizations, and universities across North America and throughout Europe and she has authored and co-authored numerous book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles. She holds a PhD in Kinesiology, Recreation, and Sports Studies with a concentration in Sport Psychology and specialization in Counseling from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She holds a MS in Kinesiology with an emphasis in Exercise and Sport Psychology from Kansas State University and a BA in Health and Human Performance/Psychology from Rice University where she was a member of the NCAA Women’s Volleyball team.