Shawn Newell

President, Waves Enterprises, LLC

Shawn is the retired Vice President of Business Development at Industrial Supply Company where he worked for 37 years. He serves as a community integrator working as the vice president of the Salt Lake Branch of the NAACP, a former Commissioner on the Governor’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Human Rights Commission and is co-chair of the Utah Black Round Table.  Mr. Newell formerly served on the Boards of the Utah Non-Profit Association, the Utah Manufacturer’s Association Board, as Chair of the Workforce and Economic Development Advisory Board at Salt Lake Community College where he also served as the Alumni Council President and a Trustee for the College and is a former member of the Utah State Board of Education. 

Shawn is a Civility Ambassador for World Civility through iChange Nations.  Additionally, he serves on the Utah 3rd district Court Committee for Self-Represented Parties, Council on Diversity Affairs (CODA), the Boards of the Road Home and Chair elect of Friends for Sight, a President’s Ambassador for the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce, Utah State Department of Workforce Services Board, Utah State Bar Commission Board and currently on the Board of Utah System of Higher Education where is also chairs the technical college committee.  Mr. Newell serves on the Cottonwood Heights City Council, he is the co-chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee for the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce, on the Utah State Appellate Courts Nomination Commission, and formally served on the Board of the Utah Office of Legal Services Innovation. Mr. Newell is also an entrepreneur who owns and operates Waves Enterprises, LLC.

Shawn is a graduate of the University of Utah, Salt Lake Community College and has a Masters of Management degree from the University of Phoenix.  He holds an Honorary Doctorate of Human Letters, an Executive leadership certification from the University Of Utah School Of Business and a Diversity and Inclusion certificate from Cornell University and a Leading with Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Certificate from the University of Utah.  He has two certificates from the University of South Florida in Inclusion and Ethical Leadership and Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace.   In Shawn’s spare time he officiates youth sports and BBQs great grub. Mr. Newell is married, the father of three and has six grandchildren.