Shawn worked as a professional chef straight out of high school before landing his first real office job in international development. In that role, Shawn spent several years working with government clients from Bangladesh, Thailand and Vietnam, and came to appreciate just how much need there is for community support initiatives around the world. In 2005, Shawn and his wife, Eva, moved to Washington, DC from New Zealand. After working at both the New Zealand and Canadian Embassies to the U.S., Shawn left government work to join the world of social good. Over the past decade, Shawn has worked with several nonprofits to help connect individuals and companies to the causes they most deeply care about. If Shawn’s fundraising experiences were written up as a novel, he believes that the donors and corporate partners would be the heroes of the story – after all, it is they who through their generosity help make change possible.

Shawn holds a Graduate Diploma in Business Studies form Massey University in New Zealand and is blessed to have two amazing children: Anna (6) and Owen (3).