Our Faculty and Staff

Shannon Wayte serves as Executive Director of Advancement for NSU Health and is responsible for securing transformational and deferred philanthropic gifts, as well as engaging community partners, for the benefit of Nova Southeastern University (NSU)’s health-related colleges, research institutes and centers, and patient care initiatives.

With more than 20 years as an advancement professional, Shannon has served in progressively responsible positions in advancement for organizations including Florida Grand Opera, Barry University, HomeSafe, and NSU. Shannon has been with NSU since 2015. She began as Director of Development and was quickly promoted to Senior Director of Development. In 2021, she was asked to lead the comprehensive development program for NSU’s Health Professions Division and, later, NSU Health. As Executive Director for Advancement, Shannon oversees a team of senior fundraisers assigned to NSU Health’s six (6) health-related colleges, including two medical colleges, with campuses throughout the state and in Puerto Rico and Denver. She also serves as the primary liaison to NSU Health’s basic and clinical research institutes and centers, including the David and Cathy Husman Neuroscience Institute and the NSU Cathy J. Husman ALS Center—an ALS Association-certified Center of Excellence. Since the Center’s opening in 2023, she has secured $43 million in philanthropic support from benefactors, including grateful patients and their families.

Shannon believes deeply in the value of volunteerism and engages in meaningful roles with local and national nonprofit organizations, including: the Royal Dames of Cancer Research (member, Board of Trustees), the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance (member, Leadership Council), Comfort Zone Camp (member, Parent Volunteer Board), and Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies (2021 Honoree, Mother of the Year). She also served as event chair for the 2014 and 2015 AFP National Philanthropy Day Awards in Broward County. Shannon is a graduate of several specialized advancement courses and certificate programs, notable among them, the Johns Hopkins Medicine Summer Institute on Grateful Patient Fundraising and Indiana University’s Lilly School of Philanthropy Developing Major Gifts course. In June 2018, Shannon attained her CFRE (Certified Fund Raising Executive) credentials, a designation earned by less than 15% of advancement professionals. She earned her B.A. in Communications/Journalism from Florida Atlantic University.

A native South Floridian, Shannon currently resides in Pompano Beach with her husband, Eric, a Boeing 747 pilot, and her two children, Bryce and Leah.