Mikaela Shiffrin sat down with Stifel Chairman and CEO Ron Kruszewski, and the conversation quickly went beyond the usual sponsor talk.
Kruszewski, whose firm is the title partner of the Stifel U.S. Ski Team through 2034, told Shiffrin the partnership started with a personal connection. He said he would not be sponsoring the team at this scale if he had not gotten to know her more than a decade ago. That relationship, he explained, turned into a “flywheel”: Stifel funds athletes, the athletes lift the brand, and the sport keeps growing.
He described skiing as Stifel’s standout sponsorship — bigger, in his view, than the firm’s deals in baseball, hockey, or golf. The proof he likes most is simple: television announcers now say “Mikaela Shiffrin of the Stifel U.S. Ski Team,” and people can actually pronounce the company name.
Kruszewski’s own skiing story is far from the World Cup circuit. He learned on the hills of Michigan. That early love of the sport, plus the values he sees in elite athletes — grit, preparation, and treating people with respect — is what he says still drives the company’s commitment. His advice to young people chasing success sounded a lot like race-day focus: listen hardest to the people you disagree with, show empathy, and let the way you handle disagreement define you.
The two also talked about what comes next. With the partnership locked in through the 2034 Salt Lake City-Utah Games and beyond, Kruszewski framed the investment as long-term, not a one-Olympics play. Stifel wants the brand tied to the sport itself — development, prize money, events on U.S. snow, and the next generation of racers — while Shiffrin continues to be the face that makes the whole thing visible.
For fans who follow Shiffrin as much off the hill as on it, the clip is a reminder of why this particular sponsorship feels different: it started with a relationship, not a logo.
