Shawn Marcell:
CLASS OF 1976
Lynnwood Junior High SchoolClass of 1976
Lynnwood, WA
George Washington UniversityClass of 1983
Washington, DC
Meadowdale High SchoolClass of 1979
Lynnwood, WA
Shawn's Story
Life
Two weeks after graduating Meadowdale in June of 1979, I drove cross country to Washington DC to work as an intern on Capitol Hill. I stayed and spent the next four years at George Washington University. After GWU I got my dream job in sales and marketing with a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company. Did well, moved up and after 8 years moved to another dream job. In the course I moved four times. From DC to Baltimore, then Chicago, then Dallas, where I met my wife of 15 years, and finally Philadelphia (suburbs), where I live today. Did well in the next job and after four years decided I could do it myself, so I started a company in 1994. Ran that company as CEO through 1999 and sold it in 2000. Took time off and taught Entrepreneurship at Wharton. Started another company toward the end of 2001. Ran that company until the end of 2004 and had a very good exit. Took some time off again and ran a small venture fund. In 2006 accepted a position as CEO of a biotech company and am running that today called SensiGen. Had some success. Made Newsweek in June 2003, the front page of the New York Times in Aug. 2003, and a CNN feature story in March 2004.
What I have learned: the only thing that matters is knowing the Self. The purpose of all events of our lives is to become ever-closer to the source of our being. (One of the reasons family ties can be so profound is that this connection is a particularly strong means of seeing our being.) No experience then is good or bad, right or wrong. They are just experiences in the path to Self-realization.
College
I left for Washington DC two weeks after graduating from MHS. My soon-to-be roomate and I bought a 1963 Lincoln Continental and departed from Lynnwood with a...Expand for more
sign in the window that read "DC or bust." Driving across country and camping along the way was just a truly wonderful experience. I wasn't adequately prepared for the intensity of the East Coast of the US, but after a few bumps and bruises I adapted. I was on the intercollegiate debate team while at GWU which was a blast. The debate team had the privilege of travelling around the country every other weekend for regional and national debate tournements. That was a real thrill and the best part was the School paid us to do it. Of course I also worked on Capitol Hill. I was a staff intern for Congressman Norm Dicks (who is still in office) and a volunteer intern for the late Henry "Scoop" Jackson. Working on The Hill was the cure for any idealism I may have had about politics or the political process. After I graduated, I found myself dirt poor, in debt (student loans), with a degree in Economics from a private university and in one of the toughest job markets of the last 25 years. When my parents came and visited for graduation, my father handed me a check for $300 and said, "this is it" (meaning that's all). Fortunately, my then girlfriend, who I am still friends with today, provided me with a place to live while I worked as a day laborer on a construction site and hunted for a real job. And then, as if by magic, my dream job appeared, and it happened. I was off to Chicago in the training class for new sales reps at Abbott Laboratories. I did very well in the Fortune 500 corporate world. I rose through the ranks and into management at receord speed and made the company (and myself) a lot of money. I then leveraged the big corporate experience into entrepreneurial experience, which is where I am today.
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