Name Jeffrey Vanderbeek Role Executive | Education Bloomfield College | |
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Jeffrey "Jeff" Vanderbeek is the former owner of the New Jersey Devils, a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League. Vanderbeek, a New Jersey native and Devils season ticket holder since the late 1980s, bought a minority stake in the Devils when Puck Holdings, an affiliate of YankeeNets, purchased the team in 2000. In 2004, he bought the team outright and resigned his position as an executive vice president of Lehman Brothers, which he joined in 1984. He was ranked the ninth highest paid executive of 2002 by Business Week with pay totaling over $29 million. Vanderbeek has been a strong proponent of the Prudential Center, which hosted its first New Jersey Devils hockey game on October 27, 2007. He resides in Warren Township, New Jersey, having previously resided in South Orange, New Jersey.
In 2012, Vanderbeek finalized a deal with the team’s lenders that allowed him to retain the franchise for at least two years.
For the most part, Vanderbeek was a hands-off owner. He left the Devils' day-to-day operations in the hands of president and general manager Lou Lamoriello.
In August 2013, a deal was reached where Josh Harris, owner of the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers, bought controlling interest in the Devils for over $320 million. Vanderbeek remained as a minority owner after the sale.
In December 2014, Vanderbeek was hired by Kyle Franey, Director of Athletics at Somerville High School, as co-head football coach. Somerville High School, one with a storied past, had lost 22 games in a row. In just his 4th game as head coach, on October 2, 2015, Somerville won its first home game in nearly four years.
Somerville High School football had gone 2-28 in the three season prior to his arrival. In just Jeff Vanderbeek's second season as head coach "The Ville" ran off 10 straight wins, falling in the state semifinal to the eventual champion. Along the way the Pioneers recorded a Mid State Conference Mountain Division Championship and dubbed the season #TheRise, which is chronicled at www.somervillefootball.com.