Shawn grew up in Madison, Ohio and graduated from Madison High School in 1990.  He earned his Bachelor of Sociology degree at Bowling Green State University in 1994.  He completed his Masters of Education at Cleveland State University in 2000, focusing in Adult Learning and Development.  Shawn is also a 2003 graduate of Leadership Lake County’s Signature Program and was inducted into Cleveland State University’s 2019 class of “Fascinating Alumni”.   

He began his career as a Child Protective Services Social Worker at the Lake County Department of Job & Family Services, in Painesville, Ohio in 1994.  In 1998, he was promoted to a Supervisor in Child Protective Services and then moved into Human Resources at Job & Family Services in 1999.  Shawn has served as the Human Resources Administrator at Job & Family Services since 1999.  He oversees all Human Resources functions for the organization and manages the operations of Lake County’s Workforce programs under the banner of “OhioMeansJobs Lake County” on behalf of the Lake County Workforce Development Board.  He is a Senior Certified Professional through the Society for Human Resources Management and a Member of the Lake/Geauga Area Society for Human Resources Management.    

Shawn has spent a great deal of his time in public service.  He served as the Chair of the Family Services Panel and member of the Central Allocations Committee for the United Way of Lake County from 2000 to 2004.  From 2001 to 2005, he served as a Board Member, Treasurer and Vice-President for the Lake County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board of Lake County, having been appointed to this position by the Board of Lake County Commissioners.  From 2004 to 2016, he was as a Member on the Madison Public Library Board of Trustees, serving as Board President for eleven of those years.  From 2007 to 2013, he was a member of the Parish Pastoral Council at Immaculate Conception Church in Madison, Ohio, serving as Council President from 2010 to 2013.  In 2015, Shawn was appointed to the Board of the Western Reserve Area Agency on Aging by the Board of Lake County Commissioners.  He was appointed to a second term for the WRAAA Board in 2018.  He was appointed to the Madison Local School Board of Education in 2016 and elected to four-year terms in 2017 and 2020.  He was elected Vice President of the B.O.E. in 2017 and President in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. 

Shawn and his wife, Rebecca, have been married for twenty-seven years.  Rebecca is a Special Education Teacher at A-Tech in Jefferson, Ohio.  Their son, Collin was class Salutatorian for Madison’s 2019 graduating class and now studies Physics at Cleveland State University.  Their Son Gavin is a Senior at Madison, playing tuba and serving as Squad Leader in the Madison Blue Streak Marching Band.