Stephen Callender is the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Foster Commerce, where he brings multi-disciplinary experience, infectious enthusiasm, and a clear purpose as a leader.
While living as an ex-pat in Argentina, Stephen established his first agency with the name “Shoe Shine Design, LLC” in 2011. He found fun and success in learning a new culture and being part of a two-person team polishing and improving the functionality of existing websites.
After several years of weathering the many ups and downs of a new business and with a growing family, Stephen decided to make a change. With a vision to create a calm, enjoyable workplace that provided a valuable service for online merchants, he expanded Shoe Shine Design’s suite of services to build custom ecommerce sites from the ground up.
After this bold move, the next iteration of Stephen’s agency was born. Over the next several years, he grew his small team into several full-time engineers, digital project managers, part-time designers, and a full-time content marketer.
In 2018, Stephen rebranded Shoe Shine Design as “Foster Commerce” to solidify its new direction as a provider of ecommerce solutions. Today Foster Commerce delivers development, design, and content services along with several plugins, including the first-ever Craft Commerce headless product, Commerce Foundations.
Born and raised in Texas, Stephen completed his undergraduate studies in psychology and anthropology and later acquired two master’s degrees from Fuller Seminary. After several years as a pastor of a church in South Pasadena, California, Stephen moved to Argentina for three years to learn Spanish. Now Stephen lives in Columbus, Ohio, with his wife and two kids, where he enjoys life as a husband and father and is teaching himself how to garden.
Talks by Stephen
- Dot All 2023 How I Saved My Agency From Myself
- Dot All 2022 Workshop: Launching a Headless Craft Commerce Site
- Dot All 2021 Use Entry Types for the Love of … Clients
- Dot All 2019 A Flexible, Future-Proof Way to Structure Craft Commerce Products
- Dot All 2018 Building a Smarter Craft Commerce Website
Interviews with Stephen
- The Ecommerce Edge Podcast The Pros and Cons of Build vs. Buy for B2B Commerce Solutions
