SBCA Staff Spotlight: Sean Shields

SBCA continues to showcase its team through staff spotlights. This week features Sean Shields, SBCA's Director of Marketing. With a background in political communications, Sean joined SBCA in 2004 as its grassroots lobbyist. In that role, Sean became a champion for many of the industry’s policy issues from the U.S – Canadian softwood lumber dispute and immigration to the fire performance of trusses and lumber design values. In 2011, Sean transitioned to Director of Communications, and assumed the role of Managing Editor of SBCA Magazine. Sean learned the stories of component manufacturers (CMs) across the U.S. and used all of SBCA’s communication channels to share their experiences and best practices.  

Recently, as stated in a previous SBCA Industry News release, Sean was appointed to Director of Marketing. As SBCA’s Director of Marketing, Sean wants to continue his efforts in building stronger collaborative relationships with others in the light-frame construction industry, from building designers and framers to home builders and developers. He plans to leverage events, like HUD’s Innovative Housing Showcase on the National Mall, to expand the industry’s presence to both tout the many advantages structural building components offer to the construction process, as well as highlight the capabilities and expertise of today’s CMs. 

Sean feels blessed to work alongside the talented and dedicated members of SBCA staff, and to be able to consider so many of the association’s members as friends. “I’ve had the pleasure of working with Sean for these last 20 years; his vast experience at SBCA makes him a fantastic fit for the Director of Marketing,” says Molly Butz, SBCA’s Managing Director. “If it happened at SBCA he probably witnessed it first-hand. I can’t think of anyone better suited to lead the association into the future with fresh, outside-the-box ideas rooted in knowledge and understanding of our industry.” 

Sean looks forward to spending the next twenty years sharing his passion for the industry with others. “Sean as the Director of Marketing makes perfect sense,” says Christine Wagner, SBCA’s Director of Communications. “He is a natural in the marketing realm and is great at building connections and relationships within and outside of the industry. I’m excited to see him in this role and to work together within marketing and communications.” 

One of Sean’s greatest honors was being inducted into SBCA’s Hall of Fame in 2022. Sean lives in Wisconsin with his wife, two adopted daughters, and puppy. He volunteers a lot of his free time to children’s programming at his church, loves cooking, and currently enjoys teaching his youngest daughter to play the trumpet and his oldest daughter how to navigate middle school drama.