Shelly Kelly

Deputy State Treasurer and General Counsel

Shelly Kelly joined the State Treasurer’s Office in May 2019, as General Counsel for the agency. In 2022, she was also named a Deputy State Treasurer with responsibility for overseeing debt management and internal audit functions.

Shelly is an attorney with nearly three decades of experience in regulatory, administrative, contract, health care and education law. She most recently served as the Director of Health Regulation for the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, where she oversaw the licensing and regulation of the state’s health care facilities and services.

Shelly also served as General Counsel for the State Department of Education, where she successfully litigated a landmark case against the U.S. Department of Education which resulted in restoring more than $36 million in federal funds to the state of South Carolina.

A native of Delaware, she has lived in the Palmetto State for more than 30 years. Shelly graduated from North Carolina State University with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and earned her JD from the University of South Carolina.