After a long and successful career in journalism, Stephen J. Sansweet made a leap of faith in 1996 and followed his passion to become Director of Specialty Marketing at Lucasfilm Ltd. His title later changed to Director of Content Management and Head of Fan Relations. Sansweet turned his love of the Star Wars saga into a second career, acting as Lucasfilm's liaison to fans worldwide, and their liaison to the company. He did presentations at well over 100 conventions in the U.S. and many more internationally from the U.K., France, Spain, and Germany, to Australia, Japan, Mexico, and Finland.
He appeared on more than 50 hours of Star Wars collectibles programming on QVC in the last half of the 1990s, and has amassed the world's largest private collection of Star Wars memorabilia, housed in a 9,000-square-foot (840m square) converted chicken barn in Sonoma County, California. Not abandoning his love of writing, Sansweet has eighteen books to his credit, sixteen of them on Star Wars, including the 1.2-million-word Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia in 2008 and 2012's Star Wars: The Ultimate Action Figure Collection.
It was announced on October 20, 2010, that Sansweet would be stepping down as Head of Fan Relations effective April 2011. He stated via press release: "Nearly 15 years ago I left my post as Los Angeles Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal to follow my bliss and take a 'one-year job' as Lucasfilm's Star Wars ambassador. Now it's time for another change and new challenges, while still maintaining an active role in the Star Wars fan community."
- Star Wars Insider 11
- "" — Star Wars Insider 29
- The Secrets of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
- Visit to Rancho Obi-Wan
- "Blaster" — Star Wars Insider 110
- "200 Reasons Why We Love Star Wars" — Star Wars Insider 200