Shawn Landres
Currently a Senior Fellow at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and co-founder & board co-chair of Jumpstart Labs, he serves as Vice Chair of the City of Santa Monica Planning Commission and immediate Past Chair of the Los Angeles County Quality & Productivity Commission, which oversees the nation’s oldest and largest local government innovation fund.
Shawn’s expertise is grounded in more than two decades of international experience in nonprofit, philanthropic, and academic leadership, social entrepreneurship, network building, and organizational development.
A respected researcher, editor, essayist, and speaker, both in the U.S. and abroad, Shawn’s achievements have earned extensive attention, from the Obama White House, which featured him as a “spotlight innovator,” to media including The Wall Street Journal, TIME, The New York Times, Ha’aretz, Chronicle of Philanthropy, GOOD.is, and FastCo.EXIST.
A Los Angeles native who grew up in Santa Monica, where he and his wife are now being raised by their two young daughters, Shawn holds degrees in Religious Studies and Social Anthropology from Columbia University, the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of Oxford. He has co-edited four books and published award-winning articles and essays that advance intergroup understanding.