Brad Steward

Brad Steward is a former professional snowboarder and is the founder of Bonfire Snowboarding. Steward was one of the first entrepreneurs of the snowboard industry.^[1]

Steward attended film school in Ventura, California at the Brooks Institute but chose to pursue a career in the snowboarding industry.^[2] Steward began working for Sims in 1989 and became the marketing director by 1990.^[3] He then moved to the newly founded Morrow Snowboards in Salem, Oregon, to co-own the company and serve as Vice President.^[4]

While working with Sims and Morrow, Steward was in the process of developing his own company.^[5] In 1989, Steward created three unique t-shirts featuring the word “bonfire” enlarged in rough copy, directly from an old Sears brand typewriter.^[6] In the early stages, Steward called the company Bonfire Think Tank Designs.^[7] Steward’s company – now called Bonfire Snowboarding – has become one of the leading snowboard-apparel brands on the market, with offices in 39 Countries.^[8]

In 1998 Steward and Burton founder Jake Burton sued U.S. Skiing over the Olympic qualification process for snowboarders, which resulted in a settlement that produced the Grand Prix series for snowboarders to enter the Olympics.^[9]

In 2000 Steward left his active role at Bonfire to pursue his lifelong interest in film. He directed commercials, music videos and more, for U.S. and UK based clients ranging from Sony Records and the Cartoon Network - winning an Addy Award from the American Federation of Advertising for his comedy commercial work, The Sniffer.^[10] In 2003 Brad returned to Bonfire to direct the brand from their office in Portland, Oregon.^[11]

In 2010 Steward lead the acquisition team for Amer Sports, in the purchase of Reykjavik, Iceland-based brand, Nikita.^[12] In 2011 Steward created and lead the team at Amer Sports in Design and Development of digitally enabled apparel.

Brad Steward is a frequent motivational speaker on entrepreneurial skills, digital and big data and economic development. His speeches range from Keynote at the Oregon Economic Development Pub Talk series in Central Oregon,^[13] to the Global Sports Management Summit; where Brad was a featured speaker to NFL, NBA and MLB owners.^[14]

References