KPMG has signed a sponsorship deal with golfer Stacy Lewis, whereby she will wear the KPMG logo on her golf shirt and shirt collar beginning today with the LPGA Kraft Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif. KPMG has also sponsored Phil Mickelson since '08. Lewis won the Kraft Nabisco Championship last year (KPMG). In L.A., Diane Pucin writes the deal is “not bad company for a young woman with one major title to her name.” Lewis said that it was “a feel-good moment for her when she was approached by KPMG.” She was “proud for herself and also for the LPGA Tour.” Lewis: “We’ve had a couple of years where we were struggling. To have a great company step up and see the value that our tour provides, not only to put a logo out there but to see the relationships and how we interact in pro-ams and entertain people, that’s how our tour is different.” KPMG Chair & CEO John Veihmeyer said, “Women are continuing to emerge in leadership roles in our company. We’ve had a great relationship with Phil and I felt something was missing in our golf sponsorship and what was missing was a relationship with the LPGA. … We want to send a very direct message to our women and the women clients that we serve" (L.A. TIMES, 3/29). In N.Y., Karen Crouse notes Lewis played golf at the Univ. of Arkansas, where “she completed her undergraduate degree in finance and accounting in five years" before turning pro in ‘08. Veihmeyer said that “education was a critical asset for women climbing the corporate ladder, which made Lewis’s background a plus.” Veihmeyer: “Stacy will help us both externally in the marketplace as well as internally with our continuing large emerging pool of women who are really becoming leaders in KPMG.” Lewis said that her career challenges “were not so different from those women working in an office setting.” Lewis: “You look at professional sports, women are still playing for a lot less money than men. We’re struggling to gain equal pay, and I know that’s an issue in the workplace.” She added, “It’s definitely hard to work up the corporate ladder. Just with my story and what I’ve been through, it provides a lot of inspiration for women” (N.Y. TIMES, 3/29).
COLOR ME HAPPY: Golfer Morgan Pressel Tuesday announced that she has “signed a new deal to represent the Lilly Pulitzer clothing line.” In California, Larry Bohannan noted Lilly Pulitzer is “a quite feminine and colorful line of clothing,” and based on Pressel’s outfits “the last two days, that seems an apt description.” Pressel won the ‘07 Kraft Nabisco Championship (MYDESERT.com, 3/28).
