Chef Shawn holds business degrees and certificates in Culinary Arts, Hospitality & Tourism Management, Accounting and Professional Sales. He has won numerous awards and worked in most aspects of the foodservice industry as a chef, teacher, manager and consultant for both local and national restaurants, arenas, schools, hospitals and hotels.

He is a Certified Culinary Professional (CCP) through the International Association of Culinary Professionals, a Certified Executive Chef (CEC) and a Certified Culinary Educator (CCE) through The American Culinary Federation.

Chef Shawn has a love for leading and teaching, both professionally as a former Chef Instructor for The International Culinary Schools at the Art Institute, and for individual cooking classes at various kitchen stores around the country. He is the author of The First Timer’s Cookbook and The First Timer’s Bakebook. Chef Shawn is passionate about teaching and is an active mentor in the national high school cooking program Prostart. He is the recipient of the 2015 Culinary Educator of the Year award from the Beehive State chef’s chapter of the American Culinary Federation.

Prior to joining DM&A in 2012 as a Success Coach, Chef Shawn worked with industry leading equipment manufactures as a support chef, traveling across the country to assist everyone from local independent foodservice outlets to national restaurant chains with research and development and general support. The roles that he continues in today are to: bring hospitality to healthcare, assist in developing new foodservice concepts, and fix struggling operations.