ABOUT WESTFALL PARTNERS

The founder and primary facilitator of events for Westfall Partners (formerly Commedia Partners), Shawn Westfall has brought improv as a strategy for fostering creativity, leadership, team-building, change-management, business strategy, and organizational development on-site and off-site to various private, public and non-governmental organizations, including Facbook, ESPN, The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Discovery Communications, Touchstone Consulting, Booz Allen Hamilton, 360Live Media, Ogilvy, Burson, The Washington Post Company, GEICO, The World Bank, Chipotle, ShotSpotter, Flying Dog Brewery, the consulate for the Embassy of Indonesia, SRA International, the National Institutes of Health, Sol Systems, and Hello, Cupcake!, among numerous others companies and organizations.

Storied, Legendary Improv Performer/Teacher: His career as both improv teacher and performer is storied: for 13 years, Shawn was the exclusive teacher of improvisational comedy at the DC Improv; in fact, he inaugurated the first improv comedy class there, helping grow and build the curriculum into the DC Improv Comedy School, which now boasts a roster of teachers and hundreds of students. His classes (and the numerous performances they’ve generated) have been featured in the pages of The Washington Post, The Washington Post Express, Washingtonian magazine, as well on NPR and Washington Post Radio. He’s been performing improv for nearly three decades: he was a founding cast member of iMusical (The Improvised Musical), and has been a member of three troupes devoted to improvising in the style of Shakespeare. He was a member of a two-person improv show, ShawnMikael[s], that played to audiences all over the Eastern seaboard, racking up a number of accolades and awards. In addition to co-founding The Unified Scene Theater, a brick-and-mortar improv comedy theater in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of Washington, DC, Shawn was also the Artistic Director, teaching classes in short-form and long-form improv as well as workshops in advanced improv techniques and strategies. Shawn’s former students include a talented roster of performing and writing talent who have graced the main stages as performers at The Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, The Second City Comedy Theater, The iO Comedy Theater in Chicago, and also as writers on such shows as “Broad City” and “Saturday Night Live.”

Industry-Leading Writer/Creative/Strategist: But at the same time he was also forging a career as one of the most respected improvisers in the country, he was simultaneously forging another successful career as an advertising creative and strategist. As a leader in the marketing department of the Washington Speakers Bureau, Shawn was responsible for crafting speech topics and messaging for some of the world’s most revered and respected voices and visionaries in the fields of government, leadership, business, sports, and media. As a senior creative and strategist for Proof Integrated Communications, the in-house creative division of Burson-Marsteller, Shawn took advertising ideas from concept to finished product, shaping strategy and creative into print ads and radio spots to video and digital/social media campaigns for such Fortune 500 brands as Accenture, Intel, Microsoft, Chevron, Coca-Cola, Comcast, HTC, and Raytheon (among numerous others), as well as for non-profit, governmental and non-governmental organizations.

Armed Forces Veteran: Shawn has a B.A. in English from the University of Maryland at College Park, and an M.A. in English Literature from The University of Texas at San Antonio. He is also an honorably discharged veteran of the United States Air Force.