Summit signs Shula

Summit Financial Services Group Inc. has hired Don Shula, 81, the winningest football coach in NFL history, to play on its team. Under the agreement, the former coach of the Miami Dolphins will serve as a corporate spokesman for the recruitment of financial advisers. Mr. Shula's name and image will be used in Summit's promotional materials and advertising, and he will attend several corporate speaking events throughout the year. The firm recruited 22 advisers between February and September last year, according to InvestmentNews.com's Advisers on the Move database. The addition of the football luminary is intended to draw even more advisers to the firm, said Steven C. Jacobs, Summit's chief financial officer. “We believe that the coach's integrity and reputation both on and off the field are consistent with Summit's reputation,” Mr. Jacobs said. “His characteristics as a coach and person are so closely aligned with the characteristics of our financial advisers that they will be responsive to him as a corporate spokesperson.” As coach of the Dolphins, the NFL Hall of Famer led the team to two Super Bowl victories and the NFL's only perfect season in 1972. He now lends his name to a chain of steakhouses. Summit's management wants to focus on teamwork when building its staff, and Mr. Shula can help accomplish that, according to Marshall Leeds, the firm's chief executive. Mr. Leeds previously has hired sports figures as spokesmen, such as former quarterback and Hall of Famer John Elway at his previous firm, JWGenesis Financial Corp. Mr. Leeds said that he approached Mr. Shula after a corporate speaking event, and the two began a working relationship that culminated in a two-year agreement. Bill Herman, Mr. Shula's manager, said that the agreement was finalized only after the families of the two men met.