Mr. Shawn M. Peterson served on the Board of Directors of the Southwest Public Policy Institute (SPPI). Mr. Peterson is President of Catholic Education Partners, a national Catholic nonprofit whose mission is to serve the Catholic community by advancing policy that empowers families and children to enjoy the benefits of a Catholic education.
Before joining Catholic Education Partners, Mr. Peterson served as Associate Director for Public Policy with the Minnesota Catholic Conference. Before that, he spent two decades working on legislative and policy issues, including parental choice in education. During that time, he was president of his own government relations firm, worked in state government in the administrations of two governors, and served as senior staff in the Minnesota Legislature.
Mr. Peterson holds a degree in international relations and Russian area studies from Hamline University and is a graduate of the Archbishop Harry J. Flynn Catechetical Institute.
Mr. Peterson is a consultant to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Education and a member of the board of directors of the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education. He previously served two terms on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Federal Assistance Advisory Commission. He is a Third Degree member of the Knights of Columbus and a member of the American Enterprise Institute Leadership Network, and he chairs the board of the St. Croix Preparatory Academy Foundation. He has a wife and three children, lives in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, and is a member of Transfiguration Catholic Church.