Meet Shauna Manner

Our new Vice President of Finance & Administration believes in leadership through service.

Shauna Manner’s friends thought she might either be brave … or nuts. Leave a leadership role with a law firm for a nonprofit focused on fish?

“They know how much I like stability over change,” Manner says. “But y’all were just too cool to pass up.”

As Wild Salmon Center’s new Vice President of Finance & Administration, Manner’s logistical purview now extends to some pretty remote places across the Pacific Rim.

Luckily, Manner loves to travel. For the past 24 years—between leading business operations for law firms, a nonprofit creative agency, and Resources Legacy Fund (a platform for high-impact initiatives, projects, and donor collaborations)—she’s fit in countless treks through Europe, Southeast Asia, and across North America. Manner might describe herself as an introvert. But when it’s a sudden opportunity to travel with friends or family to New Mexico or the Grand Tetons, she’s definitely not shy.

Wild Salmon Center Vice President of Finance & Administration Shauna Manner.

“My connections to other people are what drive me,” Manner says. “That’s true in my private life, and also why I thought this job would be perfect for me. I’d heard there were very good people here.”

Below, the newest member of our executive management team shares her vision for driving success at Wild Salmon Center, along with some personal goals she’s planning to tackle.

“My connections to other people are what drive me. That’s why I thought this job would be perfect for me. I’d heard there were very good people here.”

Wild Salmon Center Vice President of Finance & Administration Shauna Manner

You joined Wild Salmon Center’s leadership team in January 2026. Is there one key moment that stands out so far?

Definitely a last-minute flight up to Alaska this past June with some team members. I was asked to join the day before, and we flew out first thing from Portland to meet [Alaska Director] Emily Anderson in Bristol Bay. That trip offered just amazing opportunities for me to learn directly from Emily about Bristol Bay’s unique geology and hydrology. Seeing this place for myself makes it easier for me to do what I need to do to keep Wild Salmon Center operating at its best.

At Lake Brooks, in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region. Pictured from left to right: Wild Salmon Center Alaska Director Emily Anderson, Communications Director Oakley Brooks, Vice President of Finance & Administration Shauna Manner, and Vice President of Conservation Mark Trenholm.

How so? Can you elaborate?

Well, the reality of my role is that much of my work happens at a desk or in a Zoom meeting. So when I learn how Emily operates out in the field, it helps me connect my work with what’s happening out there in the world, on the ground.

My primary professional goal has always been to help organizations run well and smoothly, and make it easier for people to do their jobs, thus earning trust with donors and others who fund this work. I get great satisfaction from seeing that people have the tools they need: leadership through service. The icing on the cake is when it also feels like the work matters.

I’m looking forward to seeing [Washington Director] Jess Helsley and her team doing log installations in Olympic Peninsula rivers, and learning more about the work of [GIS Spatial Analyst] Jon Hart and others on taimen in Mongolia.

“My primary professional goal has always been to help organizations run well and smoothly. The icing on the cake is when it also feels like the work matters.”

Wild Salmon Center Vice President of Finance & Administration Shauna Manner

What’s your personal relationship to the outdoors? To salmon?

Growing up in California, we moved around a lot: the Bay Area, rural San Diego County, the Mojave Desert, the Sacramento Valley, the Sierra foothills. California is beautiful, and we did a lot of road trips. I know what a Joshua tree is. I’ve been to Yosemite. But I’m not sure I realized how special these places were as a kid. We weren’t a family that camped much, for example. I’ve been eased into that more in my adult life in Oregon, through my partner.

The connection I feel now is a strong feeling of care for these places, and the outdoors. I want people to have all of the restorative things that nature provides. In my previous role at a traditional law firm, I realized at some point that I missed that mission drive. But it’s true that so far my own opportunities to explore nature from an angler’s point of view have been pretty limited.

Limited no more, though, right? Because now you help lead an organization that’s all about salmon and steelhead. 

Salmon are so beautiful. And I’m hoping to try my hand soon at fishing. One thing I’ve noticed when folks ask how my new job is going is how inspiring it is that Wild Salmon Center has this North Star, salmon, as a filter for our work. I really like the clarity. I can describe the work and where we’re going to be, and it’s laser focused on what’s important.

Do you have a favorite salmon now?

I would never pick one, just like I would never pick a favorite employee! But I do have a favorite dog. Baylor.

Wild Salmon Center Vice President of Finance & Administration Shauna Manner on the Oregon Coast with Baylor (her favorite dog).

“I feel a strong feeling of care for these places, and the outdoors. I want people to have all of the restorative things that nature provides.”

Wild Salmon Center Vice President of Finance & Administration Shauna Manner