About Dan.shasserre

Dan has spent the past five years as Vice President Development for The Nine Network of Public Media. During his tenor Nine Network achieved record breaking fundraising results. The Nine Network just completed a $25 million dollar capacity building campaign. FY2014 achieved the best fundraising year in their 60 year history. Dan has spent the past eight years as the Vice President of Development & Communications for Catholic Charities of Saint Louis. Under Mr. Shasserre’s direction, Catholic Charities exceeded annual fundraising goals each year. Dan’s reputation for creating innovative strategies led to record-breaking revenues in major gifts and planned gifts. Dan is an experienced marketing professional. He designed and implemented brand awareness benchmark studies and directed tactics, leading to a 40% increase in brand awareness of Catholic Charities in the five year period measured. The Catholic Charities of Saint Louis Federation of agencies fundraising revenue exceeds $25 million annually. They are considered to be the most successful fundraising organization of all Catholic Charities social service agencies nationally. In addition to local fundraising, Catholic Charities of Saint Louis raised more than $5 million to aid victims of 9/11, survivors of the tsunami in Southeast Asia, and people who faced the devastating destruction of hurricane Katrina. Prior to joining Catholic Charities, Dan spent ten years in the professional sports marketing field. He served as the Director of Marketing for the National Hockey League St. Louis Blues franchise. In that capacity, he had the opportunity to put together hundreds of corporately sponsored special events. Later, he spent seven years as Vice President for a St. Louis-based advertising agency working on branding strategies and media plans for clients like Anheuser-Busch, John Deere, Ralston Purina and Lennox Industries. Mr. Shasserre has previously served as a consultant for international organizations. He has been a strategic planning and marketing training facilitator and a frequent guest speaker at regional and national conferences. He has spoken recently at Catholic Charities USA national meetings on topics like "How to Build Your Brand" ; "How to Create a Planned Giving Program on a Small Budget" ; "Branding , Marketing, and Fundraising-Why it All Matters." Dan and his wife Sandy have been happily married for forty-seven years. They have six children and ten grandchildren.

Pandemic: Road Trip Week 7.3

Posted on August 13, 2020 by Dan.shasserre

We jumped onto highway 84 headed east to Boise, Idaho looking for something new and different to do without a specific destination in mind. We stopped for brunch at a little park right in front of the Idaho State Capitol building where we enjoyed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, grapes, and chocolate/almond bark. Then, after an unsuccessful attempt to find the Boise Information Center, we were back on the highway. At some point I decided to jump off the major highway to a smaller scenic highway 30 that took us to beautiful canyon lookouts and then, Miracle Springs, where we had a private hot minerals springs bath.

We had two spectacular moments this afternoon sightseeing in and around Twin Falls. The first was a visit to Shoshone Falls with waterfalls in greater length than Niagra Falls. The second great moment is where we ate an outdoor dinner. The restaurant name is Elevation 486 and it sits on the canyon rim above Snake River. This was a spectacular view, wonderful meal and the highlight of another great day on the road during this pandemic.

Pandemic: Road Trip Week 7

Posted on August 12, 2020 by Dan.shasserre

Thanks to the generous hospitality of Mark and Kelly we spent four restful days at their cabin/house on Lost River Road in Mazama. The little town of Mazama is located off Highway 20 East of Anacortes. The three-hour trip includes elevation through the North Cascades National Park near Mount Baker. Mazama sits in a mountain valley so it is much warmer in climate than Anacortes or Guemes Island from which we came. The temperature this morning when we had coffee sitting outside on the deck was a cool 62 degrees. This afternoon the temperature hit 87 degrees.

Brian, Emily, Amaya and their dog, Sallie, spent three of the four days with us so we had lots of time for games with Amaya. I think Sandy and I played more games of Uno and Go Fish and Tic Tack Toe than we were accustomed to but Amaya’s smile was worth it. Most of those days were spent just relaxing and hanging out. Brian is always interesting because he has a plethora of thoughts, considerations and observations to share. He likes to nudge you along until you finally come to believe he was right. Emily is progressing well; her foot seems to be healing on schedule. Walks with Brian, Sallie, Sandy and Amaya usually ended up at the river so Sallie got to chase sticks into the water until she was worn out. Tuesday morning, we left the hammock life style headed out for places unknown and roads less traveled.

We started our day at 62 degrees and ended it at 102 degrees. And, talk about the roads less traveled, try Highway 20 East to 79 South, to 365 South, to Highway 84 ending up in Baker City, Oregon. We saw some beautiful parts of our country. Most of the day we were in foothills and mountains. There is lots of land and very few people in South Eastern Washington and North Eastern Oregon. Tomorrow we plan to explore parts of Idaho we have not yet seen.

Pandemic: Road Trip Week 6

Posted on August 8, 2020 by Dan.shasserre

Brian has spent the weekend working on the 2nd bedroom re-hab which is looking fantastic. He has been cutting, trimming, sanding and painting. It’s awesome watching him work. I’ve tried to be helpful but the more I help it seems to cause him a backslide to re-do what I did.

Today, Wednesday, we were to be be joining Mark, Kelly, Rumi, Teo on a island hopping boating excursion. But, dangerous boating conditions have changed our plans. The pictures below capture Kelly on their boat Sunday afternoon in Washington and Brent, Dani, Mary, Mark and Samantha on their boat in Maine on the same day– 3,331 miles apart.

**Brent and Dani with the Politte’s in Maine**

Brian finished the bedroom renovation on Monday. Tuesday Sandy and I drove the Chuckanut scenic road up to Bellingham for lunch. It was the first day that we did not see one of the grandkids since we arrived on July 4. Wednesday night Kerry, Sienna and Seba spent the night with us at the cabin. Kerry brought chilli and corn bread. Sienna brought blueberry muffins and cookies. Thursday Kelly, Mark, Rumi amd Teo arrived by boat. They are on a boat vacation traveling around the San Juan Islands. So, they were close enough to drop by on the west shore for roasted shrimp and roasted asparagus. Friday we head east on Hyway 20 for a beautiful three hour ride to Mazama. We plan to stay there until Wednesday morning before heading on to Idaho.

Because of the pandemic this is the first time visiting this area when did not visit the Pelican Book Store in Anacortes and my favorite restaurants i.e., Mary Ann’s Kitchen, Dad’s Diner, A’Town Bistro and Anthony’s. In fact, while we ate fantastic meals made by Sandy, Kelly and Kerry we did not eat any meals at restaurants all month.