Shep was a veteran of WWII, and served in the Navy as an electronic technician. He earned his PhD in Chemistry from Boston University in 1952 and spent 10 years working on the development of the transistor and its first commercial application, a transistor-powered hearing aid. He was Vice President of R&D at Duracell for 15 years and helped introduce Li-metal, Li-sulfur dioxide and Li-thionyl chloride batteries. He aided Sony on the introduction of the Li-ion battery and obtained the first U.S. government approval for the transportation of Li-ion batteries. Having authored over 100 technical papers, Shep also consulted on the development of batteries with many clients around the world. In addition to his scientific and technical involvement with lithium ion batteries, Shep was an accomplished writer, with several of his plays having been published and produced. He founded the widely respected International Battery Seminar series in 1983.