A National Cotton Council director, Shawn chairs the National Cotton Council’s American Cotton Producers and previously chaired its Farm Policy Task Force. He is a past chairman of Plains Cotton Growers, Inc., and one of the original founders and chairman of the Plains Cotton Growers, Inc. Political Action Committee. He is a past president of Lamesa Cotton Growers.
 
A fourth-generation farmer, Shawn produces cotton in Texas’ Dawson and Martin counties. He is chairman of and partner in the United Gin Corporation near Lamesa. He recently was named the 2018 Texas Tech University Gerald W. Thomas Outstanding Agriculturalist in Agricultural Production. He also received the 2017 Cotton Achievement Award from Cotton Grower magazine and was Farm Press Publications “High Cotton” Award winner for the Southwest Region in 2012. Shawn is active in several community and civic organizations with his wife, Julie. They have a daughter, Katy.