Guest speaker for Thursday’s noon meeting of the Minden Lions Club will be Sharon Hewitt, Louisiana State Senator for District 1.
A proven champion for job creation, limited government, lower taxes, and lawsuit reform, Sharon Hewitt has quickly become one of Louisiana’s most trusted and effective conservative leaders.
In 2018, just two short years after she was first elected to the Louisiana Senate, Sharon was named National Legislator of the Year by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). In 2021, Sharon led the national Republican Legislative Campaign Committee and raised record-breaking funds to support state legislators across the country in their 2021 and 2022 campaigns.
Sharon serves as Senate Chair of Republican Legislative Delegation and is the current Chairwoman of the Senate and Government Affairs Committee. As Chairwoman of the Senate and Government Affairs Committee, Sharon oversaw Louisiana’s redistricting efforts in 2022, taking a stand for fairly-drawn districts. Sharon Hewitt also serves on the influential Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget, playing an integral role in approving and managing our state’s budget.
In the State Capitol, Sharon has demonstrated her unwavering support for conservative causes, leading efforts to stabilize the state budget, improve education, create high-quality jobs in STEM fields, invest in infrastructure, advocate for families, and restore Louisiana’s coastline.
She earned a mechanical engineering degree from Louisiana State University and went on to become one of the first female executives in a major oil and gas company. She eventually took charge of Shell’s central deepwater assets situated in the Gulf of Mexico, a division of more than 160 employees with a budget in excess of a quarter of a billion dollars a year. In that position, she oversaw roughly 10% of the oil production in the United States and was trusted with managing billions of dollars in assets.
When her children were young, she was active in efforts to improve their schools. Her work was instrumental in spearheading initiatives to expand STEM programs locally. Sharon later received the National PTA Life Achievement Award in recognition for her hard work and leadership.
Senator Hewitt and her husband, Stan, have been married for over 30 years and have two sons, Chris and Brad, who have now started their own families. They are longtime members of Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Slidell.