Sponsorship

Stanford Financial Group is well known for its wide-ranging charitable work and sports sponsorship, including polo, reports Mark Palmer

Sir Allen Stanford has never played a game of polo in his life. But he and his company are stealing a march on others when it comes to sponsorship of the sport.

Noting that the 2,500-year-old game combines the techniques of ‘riding like a Comanche, thinking like a chess player and hitting like a golf pro while four players try to break your kneecaps,’ Sir Allen’s Stanford Financial Group began its involvement in polo some 10 years ago at the Houston Polo Club. Since then, it has sponsored the Stanford Field at the International Polo Club in Palm Beach and, from 1999 to 2007, was title sponsor of America’s oldest and most coveted polo game, the USPA Silver Cup. It also continues to back the USPA US Open Polo Championship, the USPA Governor’s Cup and various local and regional polo matches throughout North America.

‘We manage money for a lot of athletes and so sports sponsorship helps strengthen that connection,’ says Jay Comeaux, who heads up Stanford’s sponsorship division. ‘But there is another element to it that is crucial, and that’s the chance it gives us to raise funds for good causes. In fact, if there’s one thing I am really proud of at this company it’s the way we give back to the communities we serve.’

In polo, that means supporting various charity days, including the Sandhurst Charity Polo Day, hosted by the Prince of Wales in aid of the British Forces Foundation, which is played at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

Stanford’s approach to sports marketing mirrors its social responsibility objective ‘to strengthen every community we serve’. The company looks for opportunities that make sense from a local and regional perspective and which fit its clients’ interests. Comeaux believes that sponsoring these sports initiatives enhances local communities –both from an economic point of view and from a quality of life perspective. It gives what the company calls ‘outside the office’ opportunities to connect with its clients –and with prospective clients. To coin another company phrase, it is all about ‘doing well by doing good’.

Sir Allen is Chairman and CEO of Stanford Financial Group, a role he took over from his father more than 20 years ago. He’s the third generation of family owner, and sole shareholder of the companies. Today he is one of the world’s leading investors in developing economies and an active member of the Caribbean Latin American Action, whose role is to promote privatesector-led economic development throughout the hemisphere.

He also supports the Pan American Development Foundation and the InterAmerican Economic Council, through which the Organization of American States and private enterprise teams address development and disaster needs in the Caribbean and Latin America region.

Sir Allen has made it a priority to support charitable, cultural, social and sporting events around the world. Stanford’s corporate charity of choice is the St Jude Children’s Research Hospital for children with cancer and its International Outreach Program in Central and Latin America.

Two years ago, Sir Allen was awarded a knighthood by the government of Antigua and Barbuda. He was presented with his medal by Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, and in so doing became the first American to be knighted by the nation of Antigua/Barbuda.

Sir Allen’s commitment to philanthropy mirrors his commitment to sport. His 2006 Stanford 20/20 Cricket Tournament –which

1 Sir Allen Stanford celebrates victory in 2006 with Guyana Cricket Team captain Ramnaresh Sarwan (left) and Mahendra Nagamootoo at the inaugural Stanford 20/20 Tournament 2 The company sponsors Stanford Field at the International Polo Club in Palm Beach

was broadcast before a wide international TV audience –united the region, reignited the West Indies’ passion for cricket and generated considerable profit for local businesses. It was so successful that it’s now an annual event.

An American interested in cricket? Well, as anyone knows who has visited the island of Antigua, Stanford’s cricket ground is superb. The wicket and outfield are as immaculate as a golfing green and the ocean can be seen from the grandstand. More importantly, Stanford’s commitment to cricket has rekindled a love for the game in the West Indies, something that was under threat from American sports like basketball and baseball.

‘Cricket in the West Indies is a sport that is not in step with 21st century sports,’ said Sir Allen in a rare interview last year. ‘The entertainment factor has not been realised to the larger audience in Test cricket.’ By shortening the game so that it can be completed in three hours rather than three days, 20/20 sought to add what Sir Allen calls ‘extra sizzle, having players dressed in uniforms, mirroring the colours of the country’s flag and bringing in nontraditional cricket-playing nations’.

Sir Allen began his business career in Houston, making his first fortune in housing in the early 1980s. By expanding the insurance and real estate firm that his grandfather started in the Great Depression, he built up Stanford Financial Group –a privately held, wholly-owned global network of wealth management companies serving private investors, institutions and emerginggrowth companies. Today it serves clients from 136 countries on six continents.

The global group of companies has expanded from real estate and insurance to focus on private wealth management, including investment and merchant banking. By structuring Stanford Financial Group into four geographic regions (North America, Europe, Latin America and the Carribean), Stanford Financial Group

1 Stanford’s sponsorship of cricket has rekindled a love of the sport in the West Indies: (above) Narsingh Deonarine of Guyana hits the winning run in the final match of the Stanford 20/20 Tournament between Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago 2 Lodis B Stanford started the business in the middle of the Great Depression

manages assets exceeding $43 billion, while effectively initiating the community investment programmes that have become a focus for Sir Allen personally.

In Antigua alone, Stanford Financial Group has created employment for hundreds of local people and instituted a management structure that provides those employees with training and tools they will take with them into their future. Also in Antigua, he has contributed more than $1.2 million to the construction of a modern public library, $25 million to the Secondary School of Excellence fund for youth, and made $10 million available in a revolving loan fund for small business entrepreneurs.

Stanford and the Stanford Financial companies have established a footprint in the sports that resonate with their client base of institutional and high-net-worth private investors. In addition to polo, the company is title sponsor for the Stanford Antigua Sailing Week and golf’s PGA tour via the Stanford St Jude Championship. In tennis, it sponsors the Sony Ericsson Open and the Champions Series Tennis Tournaments featuring Jim Courier, John McEnroe and Pete Sampras.

‘Really, it’s a win/win situation for us,’ says Comeaux. ‘It makes business sense because we can reach an important demographic and the beauty of it is that involves such beautiful parts of the country, magnificent horses and some great people. Then you add in the worthwhile causes that we support and you soon see how all the dots are connected.’