Putnam to sponsor U.S. skiers, boarders

Putnam Investments is hitting the slopes — or at least its brand is. The firm has become the exclusive mutual fund sponsor of the U.S. Ski Team for the next four years. It will also sponsor U.S. snowboarders.

Under the terms of the partnership, Putnam will become the exclusive mutual fund sponsor of the U.S. ski team. It will also sponsor U.S. snowboarding athletes.

Putnam also will help with key U.S. events over the next four World Cup seasons and through the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, in 2014.

“We are proud to become a sponsor of the U.S. Ski Team and U.S. snowboarding,” Putnam chief executive Robert L. Reynolds said in a statement. “We believe these athletes will be outstanding ambassadors for Putnam, both in the U.S. and abroad, and look forward to them bringing home the gold from around the world.”

The sponsorship is a logical next step for Putnam, which has been sponsoring Olympic gold-medal-winning alpine skier Ted Ligety for the past two seasons as part of its “performance in motion” branding effort.