About

Hi there, I’m Shawn.

I help leaders identify and overcome barriers to growth so they can run. I do that by working with leaders and owners to design a roadmap to get everyone and everything into alignment.

How well are you running?

What’s holding you back?

“I’ve become absolutely convinced that the seminal difference between successful companies and mediocre or unsuccessful ones has little, if anything, to do with what they know or how smart they are; it has everything to do with how healthy they are.”
– Patrick Lencioni (Author and Owner of the Table Group)

Healthy organizations are those who get their story, strategy, operations, management and culture into alignment—their brand psychology is congruent. In other words, they are who they say they are. They do what they say they do. This is how trust is built. This is how revenue increases. This is how to make your business sustainable and scaleable.

I’m currently available for a small cohort of coaching clients.
Please feel free to connect with me online:
LinkedIn

People and experiences that have shaped me professionally:

Recent years:

• Storyland Studios—My work at Storyland Studios has been a rich hybrid of internal and external leadership. I’ve shaped the brands and cultures of hundreds of organizations—from fast-casual restaurants like Miguel’s Jr. (often called the “In-N-Out of Mexican food”) to children’s rehabilitation hospitals such as Bethany Children’s Health Center; from small businesses like the title-and-escrow company Fig to some of the largest churches in the world, like Willow Creek; and even world-famous airports like LAX (the airport people love to hate—which we’re working to change before the 2028 Olympics!).

Internally at Storyland, working closely with the CEO and owners, I established clarity around the purpose, vision, and values of our brand. From that foundation, I built our HR infrastructure to align with those pillars, support our international growth, and help double annual revenue within two years. That infrastructure includes processes for recruitment, hiring, onboarding, performance management, employee recognition, compensation strategy, updated international policies, organizational design to meet growing needs, and employee gatherings—all while maintaining a phenomenal three-year average employee engagement score of 82% via Culture Amp’s best-in-class measurement tool.

• Kaiser Permanente—Working on an iconic healthcare brand was a privilege. I was one of a handful of internal leaders who championed operationalizing the brand’s values. I provided executive-level guidance on Kaiser Permanente’s national brand strategy, brand architecture, and executive creative direction, evolving the brand’s distinct personality and identity. I also helped cement a “Disney University”–style training approach, ensuring tens of thousands of new physicians and staff learned the organization’s history and values—and how, together with the brand strategy, they translate into service standards and behaviors that help our patients “Thrive.”

• Scott Bedbury—I was privileged to work directly with Scott Bedbury and Debbie Cantu, former VP of Brand and Advertising at Kaiser Permanente on shaping the design of KP’s brand experience. Scott was the marketing executive behind the “just do it” campaign at Nike and the “third place” concept at Starbucks that guided the Seattle coffee giant’s culture and brand.

• Ron Vandenberg—Founding member of Futurebrand, one of the world’s largest and successful brand consultancies, and former chief creative officer at Fitch. Ron is now retired and enjoying time with his wife and family. In my final 5 years at KP, Ron became a close mentor to me. I’ve learned a tremendous amount from him. His very vocal belief in me as a strategist and creative leader has been a great source of encouragement.

• The Personality Profile™—In 2007, I helped to create leadership clarity process and tool. This single-page psychology-based framework aligns teams around a common story. It illuminates places where leaders are not aligned and drives clarity, agreement and momentum. This process has now helped a total of 250+ leaders, businesses, non-profits, and churches get clear on who they are, what they do, and why it matters.

Early professional years:

• Provident Music Group—my first full-time design gig out of college, exposed me to a range of things, from working with executives to directing photographers and designing for retail.

• Mercedes-Benz Fashion week—I was hired by a venture capitalist that was backing a small private label designer showing in New York during fashion week. I found myself in Manhattan, working with the former marketing lead at Tommy Hilfiger and brushing shoulders with PR and Communication executives in Central Park. A thrilling and humbling experience for a 21-year-old kid from a small town in the mid-west.

• Brad Abare—my friend and current business partner. Brad hired me when he was 18, and I was 20 to design 2, 80 pg. full-color Gen X magazines for his company Real Media. He offered me a creative director position in Chicago, and I turned him down only to bump into him 6 years later in Los Angeles. 1 month after that, I began working for his company as the creative director, different company, different city. I guess I was destined to work with him. Brad’s company evolved from design firm to brand and strategy consultancy. That evolution is something I helped to lead, and it shaped my career path.

College years:

• Linda Vacchiano Kobrynich—Ms. V, the most professional, most encouraging, and most demanding professor I had in art school, I learned the most in college from her classes, hands down. She passed away in 2009 from a 10-year battle against breast cancer. I cannot thank God enough for her influence in my formative college years.

• Wilesmith & Del gigante—a premier boutique agency in West Palm Beach, Florida that hired me when I had no experience on the strength of my portfolio and fired me a month later for being too slow. I learned what kind of environment not to create at an agency if you want to build a healthy culture and encourage young talent to produce great work. (Ms. V, listed above, picked me up and dusted me off).

• Graduated with the top honor—awarded the highest recognition of “best portfolio” among graduating seniors at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale in 1996.

Earliest years:

• Loye and Debby Stewart—I call them dad and mom. They always encouraged my love of creativity and art, often buying me drawing supplies, paying for design camp when I was in 8th grade and countless other things too numerous to mention. I’m profoundly grateful for them for many, many reasons.

• Mrs. Judy Sommers—my kindergarten teacher. I have an early memory of her praising my artwork in front of my mom and dad; it infused great confidence in me and think it was the first nudge I ever received toward creative work. Hug a teacher!