About Iron Gate Partners

12+ years of multi-brand, multi-national strategy — M&A integration, go-to-market execution across the US and Canada, sales infrastructure at scale (800+ person teams, $32MM annualized revenue), and PE portfolio value creation. Her background spans capital access, operational prowess, and strategic execution, with early experience advising on FDA Class 3 medical device approvals and investor-facing pharma materials.

She’s also a hands-on practitioner in sales performance — her training has driven results like 113% incremental sales improvement in four days and moved regional teams from last to division leader in under four months. At the executive level, she helps build the planning infrastructure that connects initiatives to growth targets: market strategy and operational sequencing that turns strategy into tactical delivery. Her relationship-based management style has led to numerous contributions with municipal incubators and entrepreneurial strategy, VC pitch strategy, and corporate sales records. She speaks to the operational thesis — not just the financial one.

She’s a Certified Maxwell Leadership® speaker and coach, and part of the Maxwell Press tribe of authors. A best-selling author, she is currently working on her next book. She is actively interviewing thought leaders who have scrutinized the chokepoint and beat it with scale.

If you’re evaluating growth strategy or scaling market access, let’s chat.

Building from a cornerstone of hospitality expertise, Shannon builds the standardized systems that let brands scale. Three decades of hospitality expertise across demanding concepts like Del Frisco’s and Brinker International. Always focused on the financials, she got exposure to the trading floors of NYSE and PCX through an options subsidiary — working alongside global financial behemoths—that quickened decision-making experience she applies to hospitality and franchise operations still thriving today. Founder of Simplicitea, a specialty tea brand she built from concept to distribution, with USDA Organic certification and Whole Foods placement across seven states.

She’s built franchise standardization systems — SOPs, brand standards, KPI and fee frameworks — and led scaling efforts for major hospitality brands including Omni’s luxury portfolio, Morton’s, and Houston’s, plus flagship Del Frisco’s launches in Manhattan and Las Vegas. She’s also a certified Yoga Therapy Instructor who built a resiliency program for North Texas first responders.