Valley Metro Board of Directors

Councilmember Shana Ellis, City of Tempe

Shana Ellis was elected to the Tempe City Council in March 2006 and was re-elected in March 2010. She was raised in Tempe and graduated from Tempe High School and Arizona State University, where she received a Bachelor’s Degree in Business/Computer Information Systems and a Master’s in Public Administration. Ellis is chair of the Transportation Committee and Technology Sustainability Sub-Committee, and serves on the Housing Committee, Community Sustainability Committee, the Mill and Lake District Committee, Community Ad Hoc Committee on Long-Range Finance Planning, and the Papago Park Master Plan Committee. Recently, she was appointed to the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) Transportation Policy Committee (TPC) and to the National League of Cities Transportation Infrastructure and Services Policy and Advocacy Committees.

Ellis’ leadership experience includes serving on the Board of Directors of Tempe Leadership (President in 2004, the Tempe Human Relations Commission (Chair in 2000), Area Agency on Aging Advisory Council (Chair in 2001-2002), and the Kiwanis Club of Tempe (President in 2002). Along with serving as Tempe’s representative to the Metro Rail Board, Ellis is also a Tempe Community Council board member and a member of the Community and Economic Development Policy/Advocacy Committee of the National League of Cities.

She was most recently was awarded the 2010 Councilmember of the Year award from the regional branch of NAHRO and has been the recipient of the Brian Mickelsen Housing Hero Award in the category of elected official.

Ellis is married and has two children. She retired from Tempe Community Council in 2006, after a 20-year tenure, where she worked with hundreds of non-profit organizations and community groups.