Shark Tank's Baxter named Qld chief entrepreneur

Serial investor, tech company founder and Shark Tank shark Steve Baxter will be appointed Queensland’s next Chief Entrepreneur in October.

Baxter will take over from Mark Sowerby, the state’s first chief entrepreneur, as the head of the Office of the Chief Entrepreneur.

Baxter is the co-founder of wholesale telecoms infrastructure company PIPE Networks, which was acquired by TPG in 2010 for $373 million. In 2008, he spent a year at Google as head of the Google Fiber project.

Since 2010 Baxter has become an early-stage investor in a number of start-ups, and founded Brisbane tech start-up hub River City Labs. He is also a Shark on Channel 10’s Shark Tank Australia and a founding board member of advocacy group StartupAUS.

“Having attended school in Rockhampton, Mr Baxter is a keen supporter of the innovators and entrepreneurs in the regions, as is the Palaszczuk government,” Queensland Minister for Innovation, Science and the Digital Economy Leeanne Enoch said.

“Mr Baxter will bring that extra something to our $420 million whole-of-government Advance Queensland initiative, and Queensland’s growing start-up ecosystem will really benefit from his insights and experiences.”

Sowerby is the founder and former managing director of AS-listed funds manager Blue Sky Alternative Investments.

“Mr Sowerby has been sharing his insights and experiences to help local businesses across the state get results and he is a guiding light for our HotDesQ entrepreneurs as they relocate their start-ups to Queensland,” Enoch said.

“HotDesQ is this government’s Australian-first initiative attracting international and interstate start-ups to mentor Queensland entrepreneurs and create the jobs of the future.

Image courtesy Office of the Queensland Chief Entrepreneur.

Follow us and share on Twitter and Facebook