Shawn is a husband, a father, an entrepreneur and an educator, living on Quinpool Road.
He is from a family of entrepreneurs and has worked on and advised many start-ups. He is a business professor at Mount Saint Vincent University and has taught courses on entrepreneurship and management at Dalhousie, Saint Mary’s, Acadia, and NSCC.
Before teaching, Shawn was a policy analyst for some of Canada’s most prominent political figures. When Joe Clark was preparing another run for Prime Minister in 1998 and 1999, Shawn managed his research team. Later, Shawn worked as an advisor to Nova Scotia Education Minister, Jane Purves.
Shawn loves big ideas. He’s organized TEDx conferences at Mount Saint Vincent in 2015, 2016, and 2017, putting dynamic speakers on stage ranging from Atlantic Canada’s first Mi’kmaq independent film producer to Halifax’s Chief of Police, a former finance minister, an urban planner, and leaders in the charitable sector. Shawn was on the Halifax Library Board for three years and helped put the business case together that made our new Central Library a reality.
And Shawn loves Halifax. He walks and bikes to work everyday and tends a big vegetable garden in his front lawn. He loves the lifestyle here in District 9 and wants to protect what’s great and fix what’s broken. He’s a leader who can find solutions and turn them into reality.
Councillor Cleary is a member of the following Boards and Committees:
- Halifax and West Community Council
- Transportation Standing Committee
- Regional Centre Community Council
- Community Design Advisory Committee
- Audit and Finance Standing Committee
- Environment and Sustainability Standing Committee
- Halifax Climate Investment, Innovation, and Impact Fund Committee
- Investment Policy Advisory Committee
- Chain of Lakes Trails Association