Join Us for Our August Monthly Luncheon
Friday, September 11th, 2026
11:30 AM at the Naples Hilton
Donna Shands
Retired Senior Executive with the Department of Defense at the Pentagon and 9/11 Survivor
Donna Shands is a retired Senior Executive with the Dept of Defense stationed at the Pentagon in Washington D.C. and is a survivor of the September 11 attack on the Pentagon.
Donna worked as a civilian for the Army for 38 years, retiring as a Senior Executive Service officer with an equivalent military rank of “Major General”. She says her 2 best assignments were 10 years in Hawaii, and 5 years in Europe.
Upon retiring in 2003, she bought a home in Naples and started her own company with 2 dozen retired military employees working contracts for the Department of Defense. After teaching military budget to Army employees for more than 6 years, she finally retired in 2018. (Maybe she realized teaching federal budget was a “fool’s errand” and decided to come to Naples for the good life.)
Once here in Naples full-time, she joined the Big Cypress Chapter of the Daughters of American Revolution. Elected as the chapter Regent in 2021, she focused working with local veterans’ organizations, especially those helping homeless veterans.
Donna graduated with a Master’s of Science degree from Stanford Univ.
The two interesting facts about Donna are
- She was born in Roswell, New Mexico 1 month before the first atomic bomb testing located less than 200 miles away and 2 years before the “UFO crash” on a farm just outside of Roswell.
- She was in the Pentagon on 9/11, 2001 and her experience that day is what she’s here to share with us today.
WHEN: Friday, September 11th, 2026 11:30 AM
WHERE: Naples Hilton, 5111 Tamiami Trail N., Naples, FL 34103
TO PURCHASE TICKETS: https://wl.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E356036&id=46