Shawn Cole

Shawn is a trusted leader in executive search, known for his ability to drive success through strategic leadership. With over 20 years of experience founding and leading successful companies, he has been frequently quoted in Forbes, Fortune, Bloomberg, and The Wall Street Journal. Shawn’s deep business acumen and forward-thinking approach make him a key partner for organizations looking to build high-impact leadership teams.

Shawn is President and Co-Founder of Cowen Partners, a national executive search firm. Clients across the globe trust Cowen Partners to take their organizations to the next level by finding them top executive talent, such as a CEO, CFO, COO, Chief Revenue Officer, and Chief Marketing Officer. Clients are both small and large, publicly traded, pre-IPO, private, and non-profit organizations, typically $50 million to multi-billion dollar revenue Fortune 1000 companies or have assets over $1 billion.

An active participant in the business community and startup space, Shawn Co-Chairs The Cowen Partners Venture Fund which provides seed funding and early stage investments, focusing on market disruptors in niche markets, community businesses, and minority entrepreneurs.

Shawn attended Oregon State University’s College of Business Austin Entrepreneurship Program, a first-of-its-kind experiential entrepreneurship experiment at Weatherford Hall. He was also a Founding Member and President of Oregon State University’s Students in Free Enterprise, an international non-profit organization working with university students who want to positively change their communities and learn practical knowledge to become socially responsible business leaders.

At the age of 16 Shawn became a volunteer firefighter and EMT, quickly realizing the local fire department was short on funds to purchase necessary life saving equipment, he founded and managed a half marathon to raise the necessary funds and benefit the community. Decades later, the marathon is still a success, has had thousands of runners, and has raised millions of dollars benefiting the fire department and local community.