Jacob Stefanik

About Jacob Stefanik

Jacob (Jake) Stefanik is the Managing Director of Verify Ventures, leading client engagement focused on top-line growth and commercialization strategy – building new products, creating new consumer categories, and entering new markets.Previously, Jake served as Divisional Vice President of Customer Innovation at REI, having been recruited to build an enterprise innovation capability to identify, de-risk, and develop new concepts and grow the business across areas such as digital commerce, product categories, membership, physical retail, UGC, experiential travel and hospitality. Before REI, Jake was the GM of Valiant Labs — Nike’s new business model incubator focused on consumer insights and market analysis, rapid prototyping and testing, product development and technology delivery, and innovative go-to-market strategies to reach new customer segments, with new product offerings, capturing net new growth. During his tenure at Nike Jake also served as Chief of Staff and Senior Director for Sustainable Business & Innovation. In this role Jake oversaw strategy, finance, and operations teams tasked with designing, building, and optimizing systems and processing to deliver a diversified pipeline of next-generation concepts, platforms, materials, and manufacturing. Prior to his work in the private sector, Jake worked in public policy and international finance – developing innovative financial and supply chain solutions to support global humanitarian operations for the United Nations World Food Programme based in Rome, Italy; as Counselor for North American Affairs at the World Bank for President Robert Zoellick; and before that as the Director of Legislative Affairs for the Millennium Challenge Corporation based in Washington, D.C. Originally from Oregon, Jake is fluent in Spanish having spent a decade of his childhood living and studying in Mexico. He received a dual degree in Political Science and Spanish from Oregon State University, and a Master in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School

Experience

1. Managing Director

   Verify Ventures

   Jan 2024 — Present

   Verify leads enterprise growth strategy assignments – from Fortune 100 companies to burgeoning brands – focused on identifying, testing, launching, and scaling new products, services, and lines of businesses. Verify also develops and launches start-ups in the branded consumer products and services sector that fill a market gap or unmet consumer need, in addition to investing capital and time in early-stage companies, steering them toward product-market fit.

Education

• Harvard Kennedy School

  Master's Degree, Public Policy

  2010

• Oregon State University

  BA Dual, Political Science and Spanish Language & Literature

  2003