Title Vice President, Government Affairs Company Qualcomm Bio Shawn A. Covell is Vice President of Government Affairs for Qualcomm Incorporated. In this role, she oversees Qualcomm® Wireless Reach™, a strategic initiative that brings advanced wireless technology to underserved communities globally. Wireless Reach invests in projects that foster entrepreneurship, aid in public safety, enhance the delivery of health care, enrich teaching and learning and improve environmental sustainability. Formalized in 2006, Covell has grown Wireless Reach to include over 100 projects in 40 countries. She directs a global team that manages mobile broadband projects which make innovative uses of Qualcomm technology for social good and provide unprecedented opportunities to empower individuals across all socioeconomic classes. An inspiring female mentor within Qualcomm, Covell also seeks out opportunities to positively impact not just the lives of the women with whom she works, but women around the world. By designing programs to accelerate women’s ownership of mobile phones and providing life-changing services for women in emerging regions, Covell is finding inventive ways to improve quality of life, help stimulate economic ecosystems and promote women’s inclusion in the workforce through access to advanced wireless technology. Covell has also guided her team’s launch of the Women Enhancing Technology (WeTech) program, which aims to build a steady pipeline of girls and women in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers. Program efforts include a STEM summer camp for 6th-grade girls in San Diego and educational and mentorship activities for female adolescents and college students in India. Covell holds a master’s degree in international affairs from the University of California San Diego's School of International Relations and Pacific Studies. She also has a bachelor’s degree in political science with an emphasis in international relations from the University of California, Santa Barbara.