Taking Care of (Athlete) Business: Mik Lemieux, Executive Director of the Athlete Center of Excellence at JP Morgan - Sports Business Conversations

Artwork for podcast Sports Business Conversations

Taking Care of (Athlete) Business: Mik Lemieux, Executive Director of the Athlete Center of Excellence at JP Morgan

Episode 109 • 13th October 2026 • Sports Business Conversations • ADC Partners

00:31

Dave Almy

Close your eyes and picture this. Okay? If you're driving, keep your eyes open, obviously, but for the rest of you, keep them closed. Now, imagine a fashionable conference room with a large table. Nice comfortable chairs surround that table, and sitting in them are some of the world's most famous and accomplished athletes. I mean, people like Tom Brady, Dwyane Wade, Asia Wilson, Alex Morgan. You can the elite of the elite. What do you suppose they're gathered to discuss, like, the essentials of leadership or maybe performance under pressure? Well, did you guess? Investing priorities for modern day athletes? No. Well, that's because you're not Mik Lemieux, Executive Director for the Athlete center of excellence team at J.P. Morgan. Now, if you recognize Mik's last name, then you know he's no stranger to elite athletes. Both his father, Elaine, and his uncle Mario played in the NHL.

01:28

Dave Almy

Mik charted a different path for himself. After his own hockey career ended, Mik put his University of Pittsburgh finance degree to work and became a certified financial planner, spending 15 years in wealth management. It was then that JP Morgan brought him in to help build a dedicated financial support system specifically tailored to the unique needs of athletes. The Athlete center of Excellence. In our conversation, we get into the framework Mik uses to structure the athlete focused program at JPMorgan. We talk about why an athlete's finances look nothing like any other high earners, how nil being pushed to younger and younger athletes creates new economic challenges and how you build trust with a community that gets pitched by absolutely everybody. So thanks for checking out my conversation with Mik Lemieux of the Athlete center of Excellence at JP Morgan. Hope you enjoy.

02:21

Dave Almy

All right, Mik Lemieux, let's get the obvious thing out of the way early. Right. So fill us on what it was like playing hockey growing up with a last name like Lemieux. Right. Has to be fairly potent. So let's get that out of the way and go with it.

02:35

Mik Lemieux

Yeah, no, it's. You know, I like to think that I was probably born with a hockey stick in my hand. Or it was. Was placed in there pretty shortly after.

02:44

Dave Almy

Laying over your mom's belly kind of thing.

02:47

Mik Lemieux

Yeah, no, it's. It's. You know, I don't know. It was a cool. You know, it was a great Childhood, great, just great sporting career. Growing up around that, you know, around that community, around that network and being able to pursue my own competitive, you know, journey was fantastic too. But I would say it was, you know, it's always a different dynamic when you've got that name on the back.

03:11

Dave Almy

Of your jersey, back of the sweater, right? That's got to be kind of a target, doesn't it? Have to be?

03:16

Mik Lemieux

Yeah, it's a target. But I would say, you know, like, you know, obviously Mary will be my uncle and my dad also playing in the NHL and both, you know, being very good at playing hockey. They did okay, those guys, they were good but you know, they never put the pressure on, you know, me or my siblings or cousins who we all played and we all gave it our best shot. And you know, it was never, hey, you have to fill these shoes, you have to do this. But it was always one of those things that they were always happy that were playing and always wanted to support us and give us the tips and tricks, but also like, let us do things on our own and figure it out.

03:53

Dave Almy

I would say you're probably getting some pretty good tips and tricks from, from your dad and your uncle while you're doing that. But a major theme after hockey was done, sort of the career. You know, they have a good, you go to the minors playing hockey, do the professionally, but the major post playing days career is finance. Are you got your BS in finance from the University of Pittsburgh or certified financial planner. So when did those wheels start to click for you? Like, was it while you were playing and you were looking what was going to happen after? Was it just something you fell into? Like how did that whole get started?

04:23

Mik Lemieux

You know, Dave, I always, I have been saying recently, I don't always say this, I've been saying recently before you.

04:28

Dave Almy

Say it three times.

04:30

Mik Lemieux

Yeah, I know, right? No, but I like to say that, you know, typically it's either we decide that it's time to hang up the jersey or the skates, the shoes, whatever, or the sport decides for us, right? And for most people, even the best of the best, it's typically the sport that decides, right? And so we all come to those crossroads. Every athletic, every athlete's journey is similar, but also very different, right? We all have our own journey. And so we all come to that point of hey, what's next? Right? And for me it was, you know, obviously having that background Unique background in the sports. Right. Growing up around it, playing at a high level. The topic of good money habits, I would say was not necessarily always part of the conversation. So it was something that, you know,.

05:13

Dave Almy

I think traditionally it's been the opposite is true. It's almost never part of the equation.

05:16

Mik Lemieux

Exactly. Right, right. And so like having a little bit of background around it, but also not to the point of like, hey, I know how to, I know exactly what to do and how to do it. Right. But having still that connectivity and the want to be, to continue to stay connected to that community of sports and hockey and what can I do next? Right. But also stay connected. That's really where you kind of go to the drawing board and all and, you know, decided to say, hey, let's go study finance. Not sure, quite sure where it will take me, but start there. And then ultimately wound up going down the path of, you know, banking, wealth management, building a financial practice.

05:53

Mik Lemieux

Always had that angle of helping, you know, athletes, their families and just not only with their day to day stuff, but just get educated around this stuff. And I think that's really what has led us to where we are now.

06:05

Dave Almy

Was that always part of the plan? Did you always see fusing sports and finance as the goal for this? Or was there a light bulb moment while you were sort of developing your financial experience that made you say, hey, wait a minute, like, how did that, what was the trajectory there?

06:21

Mik Lemieux

I mean, since I was five years old, I always knew I wanted to be in finance.

06:25

Dave Almy

Now, come on.

06:26

Mik Lemieux

I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Of course not. No. Wouldn't that be nice? I wanted to be, I wanted to be an NHL player for, you know, the rest of my life. Like we all do. Right?

06:35

Dave Almy

Come on, Lemieux, you're messing with me.

06:36

Mik Lemieux

I know, right? No, but I would say just like being around that, that world, right. For as long as I can remember and you know, talking to guys at every level, the biggest piece of feedback that I've actually gotten, not only, you know, and continue to get is I wish I would have planned more for that gap or for that transition phase. Right. And it's not only about money, it's about passion, it's about purpose. It's about just life, right. Itself. And so have, you know, just seeing that and particularly, and you know, when you're a teenager, when you're young adult, like you start to think about it like, hey, you know, there's a real need for this kind of stuff.

07:16

Dave Almy

Yeah.

07:17

Mik Lemieux

And not that I was going to go out there and change the world, but it was just how can I again, how can I stay connected? But also, you know, make bring a little value.

07:26

Dave Almy

Well, this recognizing a niche too. And you might not have recognized it as a niche at that time. Right, right. While you were thinking about it, but you recognized a need was clearly there. And it is fascinating to think about an athlete's career too because most of us have 30, 40 year trajectories in our earning power and it slopes up as you go. And an athlete's career can be anywhere. I mean, I don't know. In the NFL, athlete's career is five years maybe. And all that earning power is concentrated in that one period of time. So it creates a really interesting and different dynamic for someone like a financial planner.

08:03

Mik Lemieux

That's right.

08:03

Dave Almy

So as you think about that, so you get to J.P. Morgan and the founding of the Athlete center of Excellence. So can you describe what the goals do we call it ace?

08:16

Mik Lemieux

Do we go ace? Yeah, yeah, we go ace. Athlete center of Excellence. Yeah, we'll go ace.

08:21

Dave Almy

All right, let's go ace. All right. We'll love a good acronym. So what are the goals for ace? Like when it was assembled, what are the goals for it and how did JP Morgan support the formation of it?

08:30

Mik Lemieux

Yeah, so I, I would say just, you know, JP Morgan's been, I've been here for six years now.

08:34

Dave Almy

Right.

08:35

Mik Lemieux

And, and have been in the financial realm after hockey, after sports, for almost 15 years now. So, you know, I, I, I like to think that I have some good experience and some things to share. And I went from, you know, the actual running of practice and being the day to day guy for a lot of athletes and business owners and families. And now I think having the athlete experience, the act, the experience actually running a day, being a day to day advisor, all those things has kind of, you know, made me qualified for, you know, better, for worse. You have a different perspective. Exactly.

09:09

Mik Lemieux

And the opportunity, I would say I wasn't really looking to make a change, but the opportunity to build out a dedicated support system for athletes within arguably, you know, one of the biggest financial services providers in the world is, it was a pretty cool opportunity. Right.

09:23

Dave Almy

And pitch the concept to someone or did they come to you and say, hey, I didn't.

09:27

Mik Lemieux

Yeah, I didn't. I was part of conversations as they were thinking about how does, because at JP Morgan we've been, obviously there's, it's a Big place, right? And there's a lot of different advisors, a lot of different lines of business, a lot of which are working with sports and athletes and teams and leagues and all over the board. Right. And so we're not new to working in the sports world. I think it's more of. We wanted to bring a really dedicated and committed effort to athletes. And that's why you saw the launch of our JPMorgan Chase Athletes Council, right, In March. And that was really kind of our message to the world that, hey, we're taking this really seriously.

10:03

Mik Lemieux

We've put together as a firm, wide, right, JPMorgan Chase, a group of highly successful and just really, I would say, good people that a lot of people would recognize. And that was, you know, on purpose because we want this to be, we want to help lower the guards of the athlete community to so that we can start to talk about this stuff in a more open way. So the J.P. Morgan Chase athletes Council is really our advisory board of these individuals that we can rely on for their expertise, their perspective, their insights, not only for themselves, but for their teammates and other people that they've seen throughout their careers. Right. And really to help us as a firm show up the right way for athletes.

10:47

Mik Lemieux

One of the ways, one of the ways, Dave, that we actually deliver on those perspectives and those insights is through ace. And, and you asked the question, why? What is ace? What is our goal? One, we make sure that all of our advisors, anyone within JP Morgan who is working with athletes, who wants to work with athletes, making sure that they have the tools, the resources, the expertise to do that. Well, right. And then the second piece is kind of part of my personal mission now. And, and just from my background, from my experiences is getting out into the world, engaging with as many athletes as possible. Not with the intention of, hey, come with, work with JP Morgan.

11:24

Mik Lemieux

It's, hey, here's what you need to do to get prepared around money because like you said, it's a short window, it's an early window and you have the chance, it has a chance to be a transformational window if you do it the right way.

11:35

Dave Almy

Can you talk a little bit about a professional athlete's finances and just a normal, like a regular high net worth individual, like how are they the same and different from each other and what their financial needs are? Where does the athlete really sort of stray from the center?

11:56

Mik Lemieux

Yeah, you know, I think the actual, the act of planning for clients is Pretty like it's pretty straightforward, right? It's not the end of the world. That's, that's why advisors, you know, advisors, typically, that is their job, right, Is to. To plan, is to help clients plan for the future based on their goals, objectives, their current money, what they want to do with it, right? So that I think the act of planning is not necessarily what makes it different. What makes it different is the. Is where it is in the life cycle, right? In. In. In terms of. Typically it's younger. Yeah, typically there's a lot of unknowns in terms of length of career, how much money am I going to make as an athlete? And then obviously you try and put a plan around that, but again, it's the unknown.

12:38

Mik Lemieux

So, you know, the way we approach it is. And then there's the education piece also, right? Is because they're younger, because they don't have as much just familiarity around money, how it works, what to do with, how to make it work.

12:51

Dave Almy

Super good at it as a teenager.

12:53

Mik Lemieux

And maybe you should join ace.

12:56

Dave Almy

No, no, no, no. Who you want on that? No, but Sonny's.

13:03

Mik Lemieux

That's. That's okay. But that's, but that's why, you know, I've been saying like we have the opportunity and almost the oblig. JP Morgan Chase and everywhere to educate young athletes. Educate athletes broadly while advising them, right? Because it's the one thing to say, hey, here's what I think you should do, right? But at the end of the day, if they don't understand why or how it works, right? It's like you need to get their buy in. You need them to understand and listen. Athletes are capable, right? Like they train for the game, they don't train for the money. But there's some of the smartest, most capable individuals out there. So it's just getting them to start thinking about it in a different light, right?

13:40

Mik Lemieux

So a lot of the things that we talk about in a lot of our sessions is really this concept of being the CEO of our money, right? And seeing money as a tool to build versus just a tool to spend right now. So that. And it's just starting to think a little bit differently about money. And you know, there's a lot of things that they want to do with it. Buying things, supporting family. Right? But it's just how do we balance what we want to do with it right now with using it as a tool to build for our future?

14:07

Dave Almy

So ACE kind of sits at the center of a couple of Major. More than a couple. But we're going to focus on two. A couple of major financial trends involving athletes. And the first is nil. Right. And the growth of name, image, likeness, particularly with college sports. And the second is this rise as athlete, as investor. Right. These are folks who are not necessarily just all put my name on a product and do an endorsement. This is, I'm going to get equity in the company and all the things that go along by that. Let's start with.

14:34

Mik Lemieux

And actually operate it.

14:36

Dave Almy

Yeah. Like I'm, I got my hands on the levers.

14:38

Mik Lemieux

Yeah.

14:39

Dave Almy

Stuff.

14:39

Mik Lemieux

Yeah.

14:39

Dave Almy

But let's start with nil. So I mean, nil. Every conversation I've had about nil, people go, this is the Wild West. So how do you and ACE approach that chaotic market and create a name for yourself with the athletes who are looking for support there to establish yourself? How does, how does ACE become part of that equation?

15:05

Mik Lemieux

I mean, we're still very early right. In, in what we're doing with ace. Generally speaking, I think that once we start to get the word out there of how we're showing up the things that we're doing and how we're being a resource to athletes because at the end of the day we can go in and we're going in and doing financial sessions with teams, leagues, players associations. Right. Universities, you name it.

15:30

Dave Almy

Yeah.

15:31

Mik Lemieux

And we're, and I anticipate that only will. Will continue to grow.

15:35

Dave Almy

Sure has to.

15:36

Mik Lemieux

A 45 minute an hour session is great. Right. It starts the conversation that gets them thinking. Right. And we res, we, we relate things back to sport. We try to, we don't just flip slides, you know, one slide after another. We really try and bring the visuals into it. We, we talk to them like athletes. Right. And we relate it back.

15:52

Dave Almy

Presentation man.

15:52

Mik Lemieux

That's exactly right. That's exactly right. I do dances and everything. It's great.

15:57

Dave Almy

Oh no, you were a hockey player, not a figure.

16:00

Mik Lemieux

Exactly, exactly.

16:02

Dave Almy

Keep it on tack here.

16:03

Mik Lemieux

Yes, yes. But, so, you know, the sessions are great, but how do we continue to be a resource? You know, it's human nature to not do anything or you know, to. Until it's time to take action, make a decision. I'm not going to do anything. Right.

16:15

Dave Almy

Particularly and for younger, imagine like as an older gent. Right. I mean, I don't enter into financial conversations lightly. These are usually the last things I want to do because it's complex and.

16:28

Mik Lemieux

It's hard as you don't know what you don't know. Different animal and you don't know what you don't know. And a lot of them, it's not, it's no one's fault, but they don't come from backgrounds where this is, you know, openly talked about. Right, right. Or a known thing. And just like I have that similar, you know, kind of experience. Yes, I grew up around hockey and in that world. But again, the topic of money and planning and what to do with it at a young age, not necessarily something that is always talked about. Right. So that's what we're trying to do.

16:57

Dave Almy

Those first conversations, like as you think about it, with an 18 year old who maybe is getting the first sizable money of their life related to their sport. Because I've heard horror stories, right. You know, you hear stories about college athletes getting a payout and like helping put a down payment on a home for mom and then going, wait, taxes. What like I owe taxes type stuff. Is, do you have to, is there like a basis you have to start from? Is there a language you have to create? Like how does JP Morgan and ACE even begin to think about like the ground up approach to attacking that particular market?

17:32

Mik Lemieux

No, absolutely. And before, by the way, before we talk about anything, money, right. Taxes, investing, building credit, that kind of stuff, we talk about a framework for how to think about money. Right. And it's really like I mentioned this concept of athlete as CEO, right. And you can use gm, you can use head coach, you know, use whatever you know, kind of figurehead position that you want for that. But really it comes down to ownership and control, Right. And not needing to be the expert, but you need to be familiar and you need to be involved. Right. So it's really getting them to think, how can they, in a way that goes back to their experience as an elite athlete.

18:09

Dave Almy

Yeah.

18:10

Mik Lemieux

Right. So, so it's really about being the same way. We're intentional about how we show up, we train, we recover, we, we, you know, we diet, we eat the right stuff, we do all this stuff that goes into realizing our potential as athletes. How do we do the same with our money? Right.

18:24

Dave Almy

Inputs that go into making right competitor.

18:27

Mik Lemieux

Yeah. And at the end of the day, like there's only so many. It's, it's simple, it's not easy, right? So that's what we're trying to do is give them the tools, give them the frameworks so that when it does come time to make a decision, take action. One, they've heard it before, but also, you know, our group exists really to be, to educate and be a support system for athletes around their money. So once they know who we are, we build that relationship in a way that's very natural. And you know, we're there to help. We're not there to say, hey, come work with JP Morgan. Right. So hopefully enough, and enough of them will say, hey, I know, you know, I can tap into this resource if and when I need to.

19:05

Dave Almy

Yeah, let's shift to professional athletes because as we touched on these, they have become like, since even you were playing and your dad and your uncle, the professional athlete has become way more sophisticated in terms of their finances, their investments and what they envision their post career playing days look like. So I'm interested in if you think there was a catalyst that sort of led to this shift, was it evolutionary or revolutionary in terms, and what do you learn about that? What do you take from that? That your team can also work with them more effectively?

19:42

Mik Lemieux

I think it's just like, you know, maybe it was just, you know, a sl. Everything happens gradually, then suddenly. Right. So, so it's, I feel like. And it's, it was probably just like any other social trends happen, right? Athletes, they get, maybe they get fed up. We get fed up with doing things a certain way for so long, being seen as, you know, kind of passive with our money. Hey, I'll, if I have an advisor, if I have somebody helping me handle those things, I'm just going to let them do it without educating myself, I think. And then the more athletes that we're getting in front of, that we're talking to, it's just kind of becoming a cultural shift of they want to get familiar, they want to get involved around this stuff. They just need that extra like, hey, here's where to start.

20:30

Mik Lemieux

Right. But then, and then they take it to the next level. Like, you're seeing a lot of athletes start to get out on LinkedIn. Yeah, right. While they're playing. Which is pretty cool, Mendoza. Exactly. You see Fernando out there, you see a bunch of other pros. You know, I know a couple hockey guys who are doing it. I know some football guys, amongst others who are out there. They're talking about their experience as athletes. They're, they're just starting to get their name, their image out into the world of, hey, I, I don't just skate around and, you know, shoot a puck around, right? That's not all I can do. Right. So it's really thinking about just how do we transition.

21:06

Dave Almy

Right.

21:06

Mik Lemieux

That whole experience of being an athlete and then obviously there's a little bit of a learning curve to the business world, but there's no reason why, you know, it can't happen. Like you said, they're probably done with their careers. 25, 30, Maybe 35. But even, let's just say most are done 25 or 30. Like you can be really good at your next career within a couple years. Yeah.

21:28

Dave Almy

And there's opportunities for them to be able to take a look, spend their time on doing it. It's just really sifting through, I imagine, the opportunities while also protecting that base financial capability that you're putting together. Now, ACE has a pretty high profile council that meets with JP Lord Morgan leaders on a fairly regular basis. Right.

21:48

Mik Lemieux

And just to confirm, David, it's JPMorgan Chase Athletes Council, not the ACE Council there. We have to make that, I have to make that clear just because I appreciate it. It's, it's the financial world and we can't, you know, there is, it's not just ace.

22:02

Dave Almy

We podcast hosts live outside the financial world, so we tend to be a little willy nilly. So we're glad to be corrected. Thank you, Mike. Appreciate that. There's some big names on that council.

22:14

Mik Lemieux

Yes.

22:15

Dave Almy

Right. You got, I mean, like, here's just a few. I'm going to read these. I got Tom Brady, Dwyane Wade, Asia Wilson, Alex Morgan. I mean, you could read the list for another 15 minutes. It goes on and on. So can you talk about the role of that council and how it helps inform the work that you're all doing?

22:35

Mik Lemieux

Absolutely, yeah. I mean, so the way we envision, the way we've put this council together is really, is our advisory board. Right. JPMorgan Chase. Again, really big place, a lot of different lines of business, a lot of touch points with sports athletes. Right. So the way we're really leaning on them for, again, their perspectives, their advice right around how do we show up the right way for athletes, how do we talk about the right things at the right time? It's, it's something we already know, but it just takes it a little bit one step further. Right. And having the opportunity to be in that room for the first meeting in March was pretty eye opening to see. You know, I've been around locker rooms, I've been around, you know, high profile athletes and People for a really long time.

23:17

Mik Lemieux

It was, it wasn't having all these people in a room that was a surprising thing to me. It was their candor and like how like actually it invested they are in getting the messaging out there. Right.

23:29

Dave Almy

And what's a takeaway that you were in sitting in this meeting, you're looking at people who aren't just at the top of their craft. They're a lot of people there who transcend their craft, who are widely seen as the best of the best that have ever played their respective games. When they're at that table without him obviously going into specifics and who said what generally thematics of what they see as the athletes journey with their money and their planning. Like what are some of the things that really came out of there that you look back on and go wow, that was a unique insight I would say.

24:05

Mik Lemieux

You know, a lot of them talked about like, you know, put them on a stage, put them in front of anyone to do anything, you know, sports or otherwise and they're good, right. Put them in a room with financial people and started to talk high level and maybe not now, but when they were first starting out, this was certainly the case. They don't know what questions to ask. They don't know half the stuff they're talking about. Right. And you know, ROI1 was like, what is. Who's Roy? Right, Who's Roy? It's like oh, return on investment. Right. And so it's just how do we talk about things very simply, how do we again relate it back to sports? Educate while advising, showing them what's possible?

24:45

Mik Lemieux

Because I think that's the other thing is, you know, as athletes we're visual people but we're just, it's just human nature. If I don't know what's possible, it's going to be really hard to act. Right. So it's really showing them the what investing your money can do, what saving your money can do. And it's not all about, you know, the cost. The race said the cost is not just the price tag, right. It's, it's what you could otherwise do with that money invested or save it or otherwise. Right. So that was one thing and then the other was really just kind of start at the end and work your way backward. Right. Where do you see and helping athletes think about it? Even if you're 18 or 20 years old, they still can picture themselves in five or 10 years. Right, okay.

25:26

Mik Lemieux

We get five or 10 years down the road.

25:28

Dave Almy

They're kind of used to being goal setting individuals I would think. Right.

25:30

Mik Lemieux

So, so you think, okay, well where do you want to be? How do we help you get there? And let's work our way back. How do we, how do we do that? Right. So it's, and not too far out because it, you know, not athletes, it's just everyone. Right. It's really hard. It's. Yeah. Behavioral finance, we can't connect with like our future selves that far out. Right. So it's keeping it relevant but just helping them think through like, hey, here's what I can actually accomplish with this for myself and my family.

25:58

Dave Almy

Yeah, I guess, I suppose there's also a lot of the language and a lot of the term like a lot of the stuff that goes on in finance can be intimidating, right. Because it's not necessarily. We all should speak it on a regular basis, but it's not, it can be complex and it can be intimidating. And for athletes who are used to being sort of at the front of their capabilities, you can be back footed a bit when you feel out of your depth. So is that one of the key issues as you see them? How do we communicate in a way that's gonna be. And make this accessible?

26:32

Mik Lemieux

There's that. Right. It's simplifying things, relating it back to sport. And then the other piece is, you know, we bring, when we do sessions sometimes we'll bring along somebody that they can relate to.

26:43

Dave Almy

Right.

26:43

Mik Lemieux

To do a fireside chat. And it's one of the things we've done on our recent, you know, college football, we'll call it our college football nil tour. We've, we've done that in partnership with Kayvon Thibodeau who's on our council. Right. And, and we've him and I will do, you know, kind of a fireside chat with the guys and just talk about his experience as an early nil player. Right. How he transitioned that into the pros. Not only is that helpful for them, you know, all those guys sitting in the seats now in their current college career, but it's also an aspirational thing of this guy was in my seat. Right. No, no more than six, seven years ago. Here, here's how here's what he did to set himself up. Right. And then I'll bring in the financial lens and.

27:24

Mik Lemieux

But it, we found that to be a pretty cool dynamic. Yeah.

27:28

Dave Almy

So I think the other one, something we have not talked about yet that I suspect is fairly integral to this equation is just that idea of trust. I mean, these are by and large high profile people and they've been high profile, particularly now. I mean, when you've got high school athletes with hundreds of thousands of followers on social media. These are high profile folks. And I suspect most athletes are bombarded with people who say they want to help them and want to work with them. So as you look at it, having sort of sat on both sides of this, what are some of the fundamental things that you talk about and preach to build trust with people who I hope are kind of rightfully skeptical of people and their motivations?

28:16

Mik Lemieux

Yeah, no, it's. Listen, that's, it's. It's one of the more sensitive, if not the most sensitive community to write to kind of outsiders. Right. It's because one of the dynamics that we kind of talk about in our sessions too is this concept of like, you know, there's the character that the world sees, right? That they see this athlete and in the spotlight playing and you know, that's the high profile person versus the human who's behind the scenes and the humans are who we're talking to and working with in the locker room. Right.

28:48

Dave Almy

And Johnson versus Irvin Johnson model.

28:51

Mik Lemieux

Exactly. So how we, I think how we approach that and how we is just by you know, kind of talking the same language, letting them know we're on their side. Like we're not, we're being invited into these spaces. Right. We're not going in there saying, hey, everyone needs to come work with JP Morgan. Yes, we can do it well, right. For our clients, but pretty decent track record. Not the premise why, that's not the premise of why we're doing this, at least in Ace. Right. And so that's kind of it. And then again, just connecting with really relevant people. That's why we built our advisory board of the J.P. Morgan Chase athletes Council. Right. To really spread that message.

29:27

Mik Lemieux

Hopefully let, you know, help to let the guards down of the athlete community of, you know, hey, these are the people that they're listening to who's helping to guide how we're showing up. You know, I think over time, again, we're a few months in, but over time, the conversations I'm having with, you know, university athletic departments that I'm having with teams, leagues, right. Agents, they love the education first premise and I think that's, you know, the more we can continue to approach it that way and then it goes from education and information to actual implementation. Right? And that's, I think that's the biggest gap you mentioned like nil is the Wild west, right?

30:08

Mik Lemieux

And there's a lot of different players, there's a lot of different financial institutions, great financial institute institutions out there who are, who are approaching it the right way in terms of wanting to bring the right education and information to athletes. How you, how you actually bridge that gap and go from PowerPoint slide or whatever you want to do in the team meeting room to hey, let me actually implement this in real life when I walk out of there. That's going to be, I think whoever can do that is going to do it the right way and that's ultimately what we're trying to do.

30:41

Dave Almy

Okay, so we're going to do a. Let's, let's look to the past and let's look to the future. So as you look, I mean this is still new. It's still got that new ACE center smell about it. So as you think about the months where this has been something in the focus of your attention, what do you feel like has gone according to plan? Like that happened exactly the way I thought it was and what's been like well, I didn't see that coming. That's a different kind of thing. And we'll have to address that or that's an opportunity that we'll have to address in the future. What have been, what's sort of gone according to plan and where have the variants speak?

31:12

Mik Lemieux

I would say like I've just been kind of astonished by the outreaches of, you know, internal, right. Our advisors and our bankers and everyone who's working with athletes, they want to know, right, how can they get even better at how they advise athletes and how they show up for athletes, right? That's been a surprise. And also the external, you know, folks in the world just reaching out, agents, teams, athletic departments, right, starting to get a little momentum. It's starting to get a little momentum and it's, it's really. They're just curious, they're curious what we're doing, how we're showing up, how we can help them do better at their job. And I think that's the other thing is, you know, as I'm talking to agents and business managers and other advisors, right, accountants, attorneys, it's how can we help them better at their job, right?

32:02

Mik Lemieux

And, and really bring that Partnership. Because at the end of the day, we need to. If for athletes that are, you know, not every athlete's building a big team around them, right? But for those that are, they need to be coordinated. And so we're just trying to kind of spread that messaging. So that's. I would just say it's been. It's been interesting to see the. Just the, all the people who have come out and to see.

32:24

Dave Almy

How about looking down the road? I mean, as you look down the future, I mean, what. What trends do you see starting to formulate? What issues do you think are hanging out there that you feel like ace and the athletes that you're working with should be most keeping their eye on?

32:41

Mik Lemieux

I think seeing everything is being pushed younger, right? So. So everything's being pushed younger. Nil now is at college. Nil now is in high school, right? And so it's tough to arm high school kids, right, who are focused on playing. So it's really arming the parents and it's arming the people around them and, you know, high school, college, and just again, being that resource. But I think that's the biggest issue is you. You see really great opportunities, financial opportunities coming to these young athletes, right. Of all levels, of all sports, of. And, and no, again, like, no matter how much you're making, I still think it's. We talk to teams who are making a lot of money in college, we talk to teams who are making no money, right?

33:29

Mik Lemieux

And that, I think that's a big piece is no matter where we are, we all have to manage our money for the rest of our lives. Why not start? Why not start, right? Why not start doing well, we try. We have to try at least, right? So how. Why not start, you know, kind of instilling those habits now, right? And, and really doing that. So I think that's the biggest issue I've seen is that. And, and then just like a lot of the questions we get, you know, particularly for the. The teams that are. Who are making money, right? It's really around how do I, you know, I want to support the people who have supported me, you know, close family, close friends. But then there are others who are coming out and they see this character, right?

34:08

Mik Lemieux

And they say, oh, this guy's making money, right? And they don't understand that half of it goes to taxes, depending on how much, right? And there's other agents fees, other things you have to pay, right? But nonetheless, like, how do I support those people? But. And, but also, like, say no with buy out, but also preserving the relationship right to others. And, and really it's just giving them a framework for how to do that, to do it well and to just not, you know, you don't have to, it doesn't have to be a big fight or a big anything. You can just say, hey, you know, put, you put up a wall in between you and your money and whether that's mom and dad or whether that's an advisor team or someone, right. That, that it's.

34:46

Mik Lemieux

You kind of distance yourself from that decision making. Right. And, and that's one of the ways that we've kind of just have them take advantage.

34:53

Dave Almy

These are fraud decisions for young people and they can go askew. So having that unbiased third party information source to be able to point out where the rocks and the shoals potentially lie in those kinds of decisions, it's not an easy one. It's not a hard one to do with adults. Never mind someone who's just coming into their first money. I'm with Mik Lemieux. He is with the Athlete center of excellence team at J.P. Morgan. Mik, appreciate you spending the time today. Before I let you go though, I'm going to check into the lightning round. Let's go see the athlete and he's ready to roll skating to where the puck is going to be. All right, here we go. Lightning round.

35:30

Dave Almy

You are analytical finance guy and I'm more of a left brained marking type and admittedly something of a bit of a word nerd. All right, so with that in mind, I set the under rover on the largest possible Scrabble play of the name Lemieux at 140. Anytime you see an X in there, you know you got to go right to it. All right, so the largest possible Scrabble play of Lemieux. I've set the under over at 140. Are you going to take the under or the over?

36:00

Mik Lemieux

What is. I don't even know what that means.

36:02

Dave Almy

The under over.

36:03

Mik Lemieux

No, I know what under over means. I don't play Scrabble. I don't play Scrabble.

36:08

Dave Almy

Oh, you don't play Scrabble at all? No, no, come on.

36:11

Mik Lemieux

I've got a two year old and a one year old. I don't have time for Scrabble.

36:14

Dave Almy

You don't have time for Scrabble? Okay, I was gonna say this is where you get into a problem with a guy who's a financial and analytical guy and a guy who thinks in words. All right, so what we Done is we've met a lightning round impass. And I'll tell you what the largest gravel play is. It's 156. You took the over. Right. Right before I said it. So you won. Well done, sir. Best repeatable playing juniors in Canada Story.

36:42

Mik Lemieux

I came home from. I came home from a road trip. Well, we. We came home. Our. Our bus got back to the rink from an away game at like 2 or 3am one night, and were in northern Quebec, right? And in northern Quebec in the winter time, it's. It's cold and it snows a lot. It is literally, it's like 10 snow banks up to 10ft that are just there for like six months. And you're like, when does this go away? It doesn't. Not until about June. And so we get back to the rink, it's 2 or 3am and at the time, I was. I was living with my. My grandpa, and we. Who was in that. From that town. And we get back and everyone's coming. Car is under snow except for mine because he had gone and. And shoveled it out.

37:24

Mik Lemieux

So, you know, grandpa shoveled your car out? He came out to shovel my car out. It was, you know, God, amazing. Obviously, as a teammate, I. I couldn't just get in my car and get out. Right, exactly. So I had to help out the boys, make sure everyone got out. But that was. That was pretty funny.

37:43

Dave Almy

That is a. That is a good one. Okay. Kind of related. Coldest you've ever been growing up and around. Up and around Montreal?

37:52

Mik Lemieux

Well, I grew up in Pittsburgh.

37:53

Dave Almy

You're in Pittsburgh? I thought you said I'm in Montreal. I.

37:56

Mik Lemieux

No, no, I have. Coldest I've ever been.

37:58

Dave Almy

Yeah.

38:00

Mik Lemieux

Very cold.

38:01

Dave Almy

Very. All right. Pittsburgh related question, though. We're going to shift. Best place to get pierogies in Pittsburgh.

38:09

Mik Lemieux

Not a big pierogi guy, admittedly. I don't know. I don't know. Permanentes, though. Everyone asks, hey, what's everyone? You know, if I. If you say you're from Pittsburgh, they're like, oh, what's the place that has the French fries on the sandwich? Fermented brothers.

38:22

Dave Almy

You got to go there.

38:23

Mik Lemieux

You got to give them a.

38:23

Dave Almy

Give them a bit of a shout out. Yeah. All right. There's some big names on the council.

38:27

Mik Lemieux

So who gets to sit at the.

38:29

Dave Almy

Head of the table at the meetings?

38:31

Mik Lemieux

Well, D. Wade's the. The chair. All right, So I think. I think that's it. I think that's his role.

38:36

Dave Almy

Yeah, there you go. It gets the little gavel and everything last mine a friend or mentor you'd like to give a shout out to do.

38:44

Mik Lemieux

There's so many. There's so, there's so many pick. There's so many to pick from. Right? Surprise price say my uncle.

38:50

Dave Almy

Yeah.

38:50

Mik Lemieux

Mario. Just, you know, good guy. Great, great role model. You know, very quiet guy. Leads by example and but just always willing to help. Always willing to do the right thing. And you know, I think he shows that in his, in his just, you know, the way he's carried himself through his life, his career and everything. So I think I just, you know, have always tried to kind of emulate that to a certain extent other than the fact that he's one of the best hockey players ever. But pretty we do what we can, right?

39:22

Dave Almy

Right. Nick Lemieux, appreciate the time today.

39:25

Mik Lemieux

Thank you.