Galway Holdings, the principal owner of MAI Capital Managementa Cleveland, Ohio-based RIA with $22.5 billion in assets, has launched GalwayPlus Sports + Entertainment, a new brand that will provide wealth and risk management for individuals, teams, leagues and organizations in the sports and entertainment industry.
Will Wilson, former CEO and general secretary of the US Soccer Association, who joined Galway in 2022 as head of corporate development, global sports and sustainability, will lead the new initiative. Jay Williams, former NBA player with the Chicago Bulls, ESPN talent and co-founder and chairman of Improbable Media, will also play a role in the development of GalwayPlus. Williams' portfolio company has stakes in Galway.
Wilson explained GalwayPlus as an “ecosystem” that links together many businesses across Galway, which include retail insurance, wholesale insurance and wealth management verticals. The wealth management vertical consists of MAI, which has grown significantly since entering the M&A arena in the summer of 2019 and has a large sports and entertainment business.
Galway businesses previously operated independently, but GalwayPlus aims to bring them together in a coordinated way. MAI's customers, for example, may have needs that another vertical can serve.
“These individuals have other needs, frankly, and a lot of them will go into the risk or insurance space, whether it's life insurance, whether it's disability, whether it's tax-advantaged products that they're thinking about, whether it's business others. they have that they may have insurance needs that they hadn't thought about before,” Wilson said.
“We are able to solve complex client issues for both wealth and risk, and bring the expertise we need to literally every corner of the sports and entertainment industry.”
Wilson expects to use his 30-year career in sports to build the new brand. Prior to his time at the US Soccer Federation, he worked at Wasserman Media Group, a sports marketing and talent management company. He also had previous stints in Major League Soccer and the National Football League.
Athletes come into their own at a much faster rate and earlier time frame than the general population, which tends to acquire wealth at an older age after a working career over a period of time, Wilson said.
“It happens faster,” he said. “Their needs are different; are more accelerated. The need to have really good advice – both from a wealth perspective and a risk mitigation / insurance perspective – and how to think of themselves as a business for themselves is at a much earlier time frame.”