Veteran sports management and marketing executive Donald Dell is the latest addition to the ranks of Morgan Stanley Sports & Entertainment, the year-old athlete financial advisory division of the white-shoe firm.
Dell will remain full time with his current company, Lagardère Sports & Entertainment, and consult for the Morgan Stanley division.
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“In my working agreement with Lagardère, I have some time available in my contract,” said Dell, who oversees tennis, media and events for the agency. “I thought this was a unique opportunity.”
Dell’s role is to make introductions to player associations and athletes for Morgan Stanley’s team of 89 financial advisers who have been certified in sports as part of its program. Asked whether Lagardère would recommend the program to its clients, Dell said it would be made available to them though not necessarily with a recommendation.
Under managing director Drew Hawkins, Morgan Stanley created the program and tapped two former athletes, Bart Scott and Antoine Walker, to talk to athletes about their stories. The program offers educational seminars at colleges and universities and, to date, has spoken to more than 2,000 student athletes. In addition, Hawkins said the group advises hundreds of professional athletes on their finances.
Dell, who has more than four decades in the business, got to know Morgan Stanley through one of the firm’s financial advisers in Washington, D.C.
The tennis group at Lagardère has seen a wholesale change in recent weeks, with much of the group having been fired or resigning, leaving a skeleton staff. But Dell said he has been assured by Lagardère that it plans to staff the group next year.
