Donn Marshall grew up in Morgantown, West Virginia where his father was a professor at WVU during the day and a volunteer EMT at night, his mother was a realtor during business hours and spent evenings working on a variety of community causes, and where he and his brother were literally poster children for school bonds and other community issues. As he grew up, public service was in the air that he breathed.
After graduating with a B.A. in History from Hampden-Sydney College, and an M.A. in History from The University of Virginia, Donn began a career of public service, starting at the Defense Intelligence Agency, a combat support agency. Donn worked side by side with our men and women in uniform, as an Intelligence Officer providing analysis on the drug threat from Southeast Asia to the policymakers, foreign dignitaries, generals and admirals, and the men and women on the ground who actually collect intelligence and make arrests. Within eight years, he was appointed to the post of Senior Intelligence Officer, responsible for 16 analysts and oversight of DIA’s analysis of drug trafficking activities in all areas outside of Latin America — from Southeast Asia, to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and beyond. Those were years when he learned to lead — persuading other elements of the Intelligence Community to put aside their competing interests and focus their resources on a common goal.
On the morning of September 11th, Donn rushed to the Pentagon to pick up his children from the Pentagon Day Care and to meet his beautiful wife, Shelley, who was also a DIA employee. On that morning, Shelley became one of our nation’s heroes, and Donn became a widower, a single father with two young children.
Donn says, “In the aftermath of that dark day, I could have stood alone with my grief, facing a future that had suddenly changed completely, but I didn’t stand alone...this country stood with me.” Donn returned to West Virginia to find shelter from the storm. There he unexpectedly found more than just shelter; he found a new home, with new friends, and a remarkable new bride, his wife Heather.
In an effort to repay the kindness done to him, Donn has dedicated himself to working in support of a variety of non-profit causes, including The Shelley A. Marshall Foundation, a charity he established in honor of Shelley. According to Donn, “West Virginia gave me my start in life, and it gave me a second chance at making a good life in a good community. I owe this state an incredible debt and being a delegate is just one of the ways I can begin to offer something in return.”