Shad has over 15 years of leadership experience running Democratic campaigns across Colorado and serving in senior roles in non-profit organizations and various government offices and agencies. He and his wife, State Senator Kerry Donovan, also run the Copper Bar Ranch, a working cattle and beef ranch out of Edwards, Colorado.

A first-generation American born to immigrant parents from Lebanon, Shad was born-and-raised in Littleton, Colorado. From his beginnings as his high school’s volunteer coordinator for John Kerry’s presidential campaign to his most recent experience as President of Ulysses Strategies, Shad has raised millions of dollars for the Democratic Party, built large organizations that achieved progressive results in Colorado and in Washington D.C., and has always put working Coloradans first.

At Ulysses Strategies, Shad has helped elect the first Latina immigrant to the Colorado State House, developed political strategy for the state’s leading environmental organizations, and works to bridge the rural-urban divide on issues facing the American West. 

Just prior to starting his own businesses, Shad served as State Director for Senator John Hickenlooper, where he hired and led a large staff of organizers, constituent advocates, and administrative staff to set a new standard for constituent outreach for a Senate office and achieve progressive results in Washington, D.C.

Shad helped lead Hickenlooper’s successful 2020 primary and general election campaigns, and served on Governor Jared Polis’s 2018 campaign as Policy & Research Director.

Shad also served as Chief of Staff for the Colorado Senate Democrats under the leadership of Leader Lucia Guzman, engaging with businesses, non-profit organizations, and political organizations to identify and achieve shared objectives that improved Coloradans’ quality of life, as well as crafting creative public affairs campaigns to influence media coverage of the General Assembly. During this time, he also led the caucus’s multi-million dollar campaign to elect Democrats to the State Senate, working with progressive stakeholders to run effective winning campaigns. Shad served as Campaign Manager for Donovan for State Senate, winning a race in rural Colorado that many had written off as a sure loss.

Shad served as a Legislative Assistant in the Washington D.C. office of Congressman Jared Polis, handling health care, gun safety, marijuana, animal welfare, and Labor issues in his portfolio. Shad also served as Government & Public Affairs Director for Secretary of State Jena Griswold, where they took on the special interests to bring transparency and accountability to our campaign finance system while expanding voter access across the state for college students, tribal members, people of color, and Coloradans with disabilities.

Shad has been at the center of some of Colorado’s highest-profile recent policy and political battles, including a restructuring of the state’s budget, drafting and passage of comprehensive campaign finance reform and the 2019 update to Colorado’s voter laws to expand access to the ballot for communities of color, tribal members, and young people. 

Shad has led organizations of all sizes through campaign and program development, hiring for hundreds of positions including the state operation for Senator Hickenlooper, and supported Governor Jared Polis’s process to hire Executive Directors for the Colorado Department of Local Affairs and the Colorado Department of Transportation. Shad graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder.