Team
Jeff Walker
Managing Director
Jeff has spent 20+ years at the intersection of entertainment and technology.
Prior to co-founding Stellwagen Ventures, Jeff was EVP of Business Development & CMO at Vivoom Inc, a venture backed start up working with Fortune 100 brands like Bank of America and Coca Cola, and clients including the Boston Celtics, the LA Clippers and Maroon 5.
Before joining Vivoom, Jeff was EVP of Business Development & Marketing at First Act International where he spent 12 years developing First Act as a category leader in beginner musical instruments. Jeff drove all the marketing and BD for their portfolio of consumer brands and led a pioneering licensing strategy that delivered $100MM+ USD of First Act’s annual revenue. He also conceptualized a ground breaking co promotion with Volkswagen to propel the company to the top market share holder.
With senior executive and C level positions at Vivoom Inc. and First Act, Jeff also held leadership roles at the Rounder Records Group and Sony Music Entertainment. He has driven a multitude of strategic partnerships with the Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal, Warner Bros., among others, and orchestrated highly successful product launches for collateral businesses in music gaming and mobile accessories. Jeff led negotiations on endorsement deals with Eric Clapton, Dave Matthews and Kid Rock.
His background is in marketing, corporate development, strategic partnerships, media, strategy and technology.
Jeff was featured by Music Inc. Magazine in a 40 Under 40 cover story. He resides on Boston’s North Shore with his wife and four children and likes spending time with them on the ocean—he is also a passionate triathlete and a 2x Ironman.
Matthew Baxter
Managing Director
Matthew is co Founder & Managing Director at Stellwagen Ventures. He was previously President of Dugout Ltd. Inc., a leading football content platform and media services creative agency. At Dugout, he launched a platform that delivers more than 400MM eyeballs to the world’s biggest brands. It is the only company in the world co founded, and owned, by the largest football clubs around the globe, including Liverpool, Manchester City, Real Madrid, Juventus, Barcelona, Arsenal, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, PSG, and AC Milan.
Prior to Dugout, Matthew served as Chief Media Officer on the board of Liverpool Football Club. He was responsible for developing, orchestrating and monetising a successful digital transformation of the club’s media and TV operations. In addition, he was a meaningful part of the Executive team overseeing the club’s overall business strategy.
Earlier on, Matthew worked as EU Marketing Director at Warner Brothers International developing and managing the successful launches of a multitude of TV and movie properties. In addition, he worked at Disney and was part of FOX studios helping to scale platform sales, distribution, development and growth across all of Europe.
Throughout his career, Matthew has held a number of advisory board and consulting roles touching on music, sports, and entertainment. He’s an avid runner and mountain walker and resides in the English countryside with his wife and three children.
Advisors
Ian Priest
Marketing industry leader and former President of the IPA, Ian is also the co-founder of VCCP and ex- COO of Chime Sports Marketing in the UK. He currently serves as CEO of Grace Blue Partnership, a world-leading marketing executive search firm, and a Non- Executive Director and investor in multiple marketing services businesses. Ian resides in London with his wife and three children.
Jeff Janer
Two-time CEO and board member of large enterprises including Vistage, Third Screen Media, MITX and Larry Miller Production, Jeff is a serial entrepreneur who formerly co-founded and sold Springpad. Currently, Jeff holds the position as Managing Partner at Traverse Partners LLC providing strategic consulting services to CEOs and executives in technology and other entrepreneurial organizations. Jeff is based in southern Maine.
Chris J. Walker
After 24 years, Chris recently retired from HarbourVest Partners, a global private equity firm, which he joined in 1998 in the primary partnership group and has focused most of his efforts on US venture capital and buyout fund investments. Chris also has extensive experience working in the healthcare sector and primary partnerships in Canada. He also chaired the firm’s ESG Committee at HarbourVest and served on the advisory committees for multiple partnerships in Canada and the United States.
Prior to HarbourVest, Chris was a pilot in the United States Navy for 11 years, flying the P-3 Orion aircraft, and achieving the rank of Lieutenant Commander.
He received a BS in Finance from Providence College in 1986 where played lacrosse all four years and an MS in Finance from the Carroll School of Management Program at Boston College in 1998.
Chris is a Trustee of Providence College, serves on the Investment and Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committees, and is a former chairman of the Boston President’s counsel for Providence College. He met his wife Susan while they were both attending Providence and currently shares time between Estero, Florida, and Scituate, MA with his three grown children Brennen, Colin, and Kaleigh.
Chris also serves on the Investment Committee for the University of Florida’s venture capital fund as they commercialize and ultimately invest in certain opportunities that are created at the university.