Shawn Gorman

Executive Chairman of the Board
L.L.Bean

Laureate 2018

Shawn Gorman, great-grandson of company founder Leon Leonwood (L.L) Bean, was appointed Chairman of the Board in May of 2013. He succeeded his uncle, Leon Gorman, who served as President and Chairman of the Board for more than four decades. Shawn was named Executive Chairman in December of 2015.

Shawn began his L.L.Bean career in 1991, as an Advertising Analyst in Marketing. He took on his first leadership role as Assistant Manager of Marketing Operations, and a year later was promoted to Manager of International Customer Operations, where he helped to shape how our international customers experienced the L.L.Bean brand. Shawn then moved to E-Commerce as Manager of Marketing and Customer Management, and introduced the company to online and email marketing as L.L.Bean began to transition from catalog to internet sales and marketing.

In 2002, Shawn joined Partnership Marketing, where he led L.L.Bean's co-branded marketing programs including the credit card division, now in its 21st year. In 2008, he was named VP of Card Services and Direct to Business (D2B) and oversaw the launch of D2B's first e-commerce site. His final operational role was as SVP of Brand Communications, where he integrated brand strategies across all selling channels to ensure consistency and customer focus.

Shawn grew up in Exeter, New Hampshire and is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire. He is very active in the community and serves on the boards of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, University of New Hampshire, and the Brooks School in North Andover. He also chairs the John T. Gorman Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides funding to better the lives of disadvantaged people in Maine. Shawn is an outdoors enthusiast, and like his great-grandfather, believes that time spent in the outdoors adds both quality and quantity to one's life.