Sean Eugene Reilly is the Chief Executive Officer of Lamar Advertising Company

Lamar Advertising Company

The Lamar Advertising Company , based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is a provider of billboards, transit advertising, and highway logo signs. Founded in 1902, Lamar currently operates over 150 outdoor advertising companies in more than 40 states and Puerto Rico...

 in Baton Rouge

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...

, Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

.

Lamar Advertising was founded by Charles W. Lamar, Sr., Reilly's maternal great-grandfather as a small operation in Pensacola

Pensacola, Florida

Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...

, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

. It is one of the largest national corporations headquartered in Baton Rouge. Sean Reilly's older brother, Kevin P. Reilly, Jr. (born ca. 1954), is the President and Chairman of Lamar Advertising. Another brother, Wendell Reilly, was formerly affiliated with the company. Reilly's mother is Ann Lamar Switzer Reilly, known as Dee Dee Reilly, a native of California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 and a Baton Rouge civic figure. Sean Reilly earns nearly $700,000 annually from Lamar.

From 1988-1996, he served as a Democrat

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 in the Louisiana House of Representatives

Louisiana State Legislature

The Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...

 from District 68. He succeeded his father, Kevin Patrick Reilly, Sr.

Kevin Reilly (Louisiana politician)

Kevin Patrick Reilly, Sr. , a retired businessman and active philanthropist from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is the former executive officer of the Lamar Advertising Company who served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from District 68 between 1972 and 1988...

, in the position. Reilly, Sr., a Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

 native, left the House to run unsuccessfully for Louisiana state treasurer

State Treasurer

In the state governments of the United States, 49 of the 50 states have the executive position of treasurer. Texas abolished the position of Texas State Treasurer in 1996....

 in the 1987 nonpartisan blanket primary, having been defeated by future U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu

Mary Landrieu

Mary Loretta Landrieu is the senior United States Senator from the State of Louisiana and a member of the Democratic Party.Born in Arlington, Virginia, Landrieu was raised in New Orleans, Louisiana...

 of New Orleans

New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...

.

In the October 24, 1987, primary Sean Reilly led a Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

, Toni Higginbotham, and an Independent, Ben Peabody. Reilly received 7,928 votes (45.6 percent), to Higginbotham's 6,146 votes (35.4 percent) and Peabody's critical 3,311 ballots (19.1 percent), Reilly then defeated Higginbotham in the November 21 general election, 7,379 votes (54 percent) to 6,291 (46 percent). He ran unopposed for a second term in the House in the 1991 primary and did not seek a third term in 1995. He was succeeded by fellow Democrat William Daniel, a narrow winner over the Republican, Sandra Bologna Ribes.

Reilly is a large donor to Democratic candidates and party organizations, including two unsuccessful campaigns in 2008 waged for seats in the United States House of Representatives

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 by Don Cazayoux

Don Cazayoux

Donald J. 'Don' Cazayoux, Jr. is a former Democratic U.S. Representative from Louisiana's 6th congressional district. He is currently US Attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana....

 of New Roads

New Roads, Louisiana

New Roads is a city in and the parish seat of Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, United States. The center of population of Louisiana is located in New Roads . The population was 4,996 at the 2000 census. The city's ZIP code is 70760...

 and Paul Carmouche

Paul Carmouche

Paul J. Carmouche is an American Lawyer who served as a five-term District Attorney for Caddo Parish, Louisiana from 1979 to 2009. Before his tenure as District Attorney, Carmouche graduated from Loyola University New Orleans Law School in 1969 and worked as an assistant in the District Attorney's...

 of Shreveport

Shreveport, Louisiana

Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....

, Louisiana. He also donated to the Democratic State Central Committee in Baton Rouge. In all, he contributed more than $55,000 in the 2008 cycle.

Reilly graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 in Cambridge

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...

, Massachusetts, with both Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 (1984) and Juris Doctor

Juris Doctor

Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...

 (1989) degrees. He is Roman Catholic. In October 1989, Reilly wed the former Jennifer Marie Eplett, a graduate of Wellesley College in Wellesley

Wellesley, Massachusetts

Wellesley is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of Greater Boston. The population was 27,982 at the time of the 2010 census.It is best known as the home of Wellesley College and Babson College...

, Massachusetts, and a daughter of Mary Jane Coughlin Eplett, a reading specialist from Lexington

Lexington, Massachusetts

Lexington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 31,399 at the 2010 census. This town is famous for being the site of the first shot of the American Revolution, in the Battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775.- History :...

, Massachusetts, and Dr. James Douglas Eplett, Sr. (1931–2002), a physician then of Nashua

Nashua, New Hampshire

-Climate:-Demographics:As of the census of 2010, there were 86,494 people, 35,044 households, and 21,876 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,719.9 people per square mile . There were 37,168 housing units at an average density of 1,202.8 per square mile...

, New Hampshire

New Hampshire

New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...

.

From 1999-2005, Reilly served on the board of the Louisiana Community College and Technical College System. Despite Reilly's Democrat loyalty, Republican Governor Bobby Jindal

Bobby Jindal

Piyush "Bobby" Jindal is the 55th and current Governor of Louisiana and formerly a member of the United States House of Representatives. He is a member of the Republican Party....

named the former lawmaker as the chairman of the board of trustees of Blueprint Louisiana, a group which emphasizes technology and economic development statewide.