Speaking Engagements

Shawn D. Rochester

Awards and Recognition

• Featured as a Black History Maker by Amazon Corporation
• Prominently featured expert in both the Inside the Racial Wealth Gap series by Business Insider which was nominated for the Editorial Campaign of the Year
• Prominently featured expert in The Cost of Inheritance – a documentary that explores the complex issue of reparations in the US
• Received citations from the New York City Council and the New York State Assembly for community impact and economic development
• Recipient of the difference maker award for leadership in economic development from the Urban League of Greater Kanas City
• Recipient of the Pinehurst Invitational Leadership Award
• Recipient of the Blacks on Wall Street (BOWS) Dick Rowland Award for Outstanding Service
• Recipient of the HORD (Helping Others Reach their Dream) Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award

Community Impact

• Led a Connecticut based nonprofit to help transform life outcomes for economically disadvantaged youth in Danbury Connecticut by providing them with a great education through its private all boys middle school, after school & summer school programs and formal mentoring programs.
• Worked with another Connecticut based nonprofit to award over USD $2,000,000 to Black students pursuing a college education.

Executing P.H.D Economic Framework

• Strategic advisor to Cisco corporation’s $50 million African American Partner Community initiative
• Board member of the FedPropel Institute whose mission is to assist 5,000 minority and veteran businesses secure over $7 billion of federal contracts by 2030
• Senior advisor to FundBlackFounders whose mission is to help close the capital gap by utilizing crowd funding coupled with matching grants to provide non-dilutive early stage capital
• Strategic advisor to Lockstep Ventures which makes equity and equity related investments in consumer facing businesses that reduce inequality and issue in economic and social justice 
• Former Advisory board member of Silicon Valley Bank’s Access to Innovation Initiative to increase representation and funding of underrepresented groups in the US innovation system

Corporate Impact

• Served as a trusted advisor to a General Manager responsible for USD $10B within the Global Communications Sector

• Drove the strategic planning process for a $1.2B portfolio of businesses which helped to provided incremental growth opportunities for 17 businesses within the IT and Datacom marketplace

• Developed the acquisition strategy and executed $500M of deals globally which included target identification, business case development, due diligence, deal structuring, negotiating definitive agreements and integration at the group level and across a portfolio of business units

• Managed the Strategic Planning process for the 17 Emerging Businesses Opportunities (EBOs) contributing over $10B of revenue and ensured that each business received the requisite investment to achieve the revenue projections for the following year

• Managed multi-billion dollar foreign exchange hedging programs within the treasury group of a Global IT firm

• Developed a deep understanding of the global competitive landscape having spent 6 years travelling extensively to 25 cities in 10 countries across Asia and Europe in pursuit of new organic and inorganic growth opportunities