Stefan bio

Stefan was born in Kenya in 1970 where his French mother and English father had met and were living and working. Following the birth of his sister, the family moved to Godalming in 1973. Stefan was educated locally at Busbridge School and the Royal Grammar School, Guildford. In 1990, he joined the Godalming based publisher Colour Library Books before being lured away to London in 1996 where he joined Dorling Kindersley and later Penguin Books, where he was Business Development Manager.

Between 2003 and 2008 he was Sales and Business Development Manager for Trotman and Crimson Publishing where he worked four days a week while running his own wine business called Field&Vine. Between 2006 and 2008, he was the publisher of Grapestalk, the online wine magazine for the Association of Small Direct Wine Merchants.

In 2007, Stefan was elected a Godalming Town and Waverley Borough Councillor for Godalming Charterhouse and re-elected in 2011 and 2015. He was leader of Godalming Town Council from 2014-2019 and a member of Waverley Borough Council’s Executive for eight years until he stepped down in 2016. In May 2019, he retired from Godalming Town and Waverley Borough Councils and was elected to Elstead Parish Council where he lives.

Stefan is a strong supporter of his local community. He helped establish GOLO – The Godalming Lottery, fundraised for the Godalming Bandstand, is a Friend of Godalming Woolsack Rotary, a member of the Godalming Trust, the Lutyens Trust, Brooklands Museum Trust and a founder member of the Goodwood Road Racing Club. Together with a close friend Jane, he took over the annual GUTS Classic Motor Tour in 2014 and raised over £50,000 to fight bowel cancer at the Royal Surrey Hospital in the 10 years they ran it. He was a trustee of The Clockhouse in Milford between 2019-2021 and was on the management team of Godalming & District Chamber of Commerce for over 8 years until 2025. He is now on the management committee of The Godalming Trust and is Finance Director for Godalming’s Business Improvement District, called Discover Godalming.

He started Vantage Publishing in 2009 having seen the need for local community magazines in the Surrey Hills area. He is married to Mike, a Surgeon-Captain in the Royal Navy, and they live with their  black labradors Humphrey and Fergus in Elstead, Surrey and Alverstoke, Hampshire, and spend time in the summer at their family house in South West France.