Skullcandy's Executive Chairman Jeff Kearl has joined the CONNECT San Diego Sport Innovators (SDSI) board of directors. CONNECT SDSI is a group of more than 600 action sports and sporting goods companies in the San Diego area that connect business owners and drive growth for the industry.
“The diverse knowledge and relationships Jeff brings will be extremely valuable to the SDSI initiative,” said Bill Walton, executive chairman of CONNECT San Diego Sport
Innovators (SDSI). “Jeff has a lifetime of experience investing and building start-ups, the root of what SDSI is about. His expertise will further our commitment to up and coming innovative sport businesses in San Diego; to help grow the next Adidas or Callaway.”
Kearl has focused his career on building or investing in early-stage companies. He is the founder and managing director of Monarch Partners, an angel fund whose investments include Allegiance Technologies, Costa Vida Mexican Restaurants, Logoworks, Longboards Ice Cream, Skullcandy and Stance. Kearl founded and raised two rounds of venture capital for Logoworks, an online graphic design company he sold to HP in 2007. He is chairman of the board at Skullcandy, an audio products company with revenues exceeding $100M. He also is on the investment committee of Innoventures Capital Partners, a fund focused on providing loans to early-stage and venture-backed companies. He currently acts as chief executive officer of his most recent investment, Stance Inc., a start-up company focusing on socks for the action sports industry.
“CONNECT has a long history of helping entrepreneurs build great companies through education and fundraising support, among other things,” Kearl said. “It is probably the most successful organization of its kind in the country. Once I found out that CONNECT had started to focus on action sports businesses, in addition to the technology and life sciences companies it already serves, I became intrigued. Once Bill Walton took the reins I knew the fun meter would be all-time. I was in.”
