Shannon Willoughby

Shannon Willoughby is Executive Director of the Strategic Partnerships Office at The University of Queensland.

Under her leadership, the Strategic Partnerships Office serves as the front door for industry and government to connect with the university and support large scale, multi-faceted partnerships and projects which focus emerging global challenges and opportunities.  

In her role, Shannon drives opportunities of scale with government and industry to support new partnerships, in research, innovation and policy, with a focus on energy transition and resources, health and biomedical science, defence and national security, advanced manufacturing and enabling technologies, agriculture and the environment.

Shannon is a former senior executive at Trade and Investment Queensland, CEO of Study Gold Coast and a former chief reporter at News Limited. She sits on a number of industry and advocacy boards and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.