City of Columbus

Shannon Ginther-Chair of the Columbus Women's Commission

Shannon Ginther knew she had an opportunity to help improve the city when her husband, Andrew J. Ginther, was elected the 53rd Mayor of the City of Columbus. But instead of choosing multiple projects on which to focus, she chose one: advancing the economic well-being of Columbus’ women.

Shannon has spent the majority of her career in health and healthcare administration, including work at the Ohio Departments of Health and Insurance, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, and now at OhioHealth. These experiences have helped her better understand the challenges women face. 

“Delivering high quality healthcare to everyone is my passion,” she says. Shannon’s passion began at an early age as she watched her father move through his career as a process engineer.  This sparked her fascination with the opportunity to impact outcomes by changing process.  “With healthcare it is easy to see. You bring the right people to the table to change the process. As the process improves, the quality of healthcare goes up and the costs come down.”

She sees the same opportunity with the Columbus Women’s Commission. The Commission is focusing on four areas: health and nutrition, housing, workforce and education, and pay equity. “We are fortunate that our community already has many great programs in each of these areas. We are using the Commission to knit together the expertise of each and form a united front to make the community a stronger place for women to live, work, and raise a family.”

All of the Commission’s work is strategic, complete with outcomes-oriented metrics. As Mayor Ginther has often said, “If you don’t measure it, you don’t mean it.” Shannon is leveraging the Commission to effect measurable changes in the lives of Columbus’ women.

Shannon earned her bachelor’s degree in political science at the University of Cincinnati and her law degree from Capital University. She and the Mayor have one daughter.