Authored by: Rob Penner/Stifel
Featured Image: Alice Merryweather, Chris Nielsen (Sr. VP/Investments at Stifel) and Jay Poulter
For most elite ski racers, summer is a season of dryland training, chasing snow in the Southern Hemisphere, and perhaps a few rare moments of downtime. But for Alice Merryweather and Jay Poulter, this summer offered something completely different: a glimpse into life beyond the ski hill through Stifel’s summer internship program in Park City, Utah.
Stifel, a partner of the Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team since 2022, has been creating opportunities for athletes to gain professional experience off the snow—experience that can be hard to come by when your life revolves around racing gates at 50 mph. This summer, Merryweather, a former U.S. Ski Team member who retired in 2024, and Poulter, a current rising talent on the team and finance major at the University of Utah, spent several weeks immersed in the world of wealth management and finance.
For Merryweather, who majored in government at Dartmouth before graduating in May 2024, the timing was perfect. “I had just retired last spring and still had some school left to finish,” she said. “I was figuring out what I wanted to do with my life, and this felt like a huge opportunity to see something totally new and different.”
Poulter, meanwhile, is already thinking about how to balance his ski career with a future in finance. “I’m majoring in finance, and this internship gave me a comprehensive view of the field,” he said during his final days in the Stifel offices. “It was my first chance to work in an office and see how things actually run behind the scenes.”
The pair spent most of their time in Stifel’s Park City branch, learning the ins and outs of wealth management while meeting colleagues from across the firm. Following his “day job,” Poulter would then hit the USANA Center for Excellence for daily dryland training sessions. In the penultimate week of their internship, the pair traveled to Stifel’s St. Louis headquarters to connect with other interns, Stifel employees and experience the company on a larger scale. They also had the special opportunity to meet with Stifel CEO Ron Kruszewski.
“The coolest part for me was getting to be part of the Stifel culture,” Merryweather said. “Whether on Zoom or in person, everyone was welcoming, and it really felt like a team environment.”
Poulter agreed: “Visiting the headquarters was the highlight of my summer. We got the royal treatment and saw the company from the inside out. Meeting different teams and seeing how everyone works together was eye-opening.”
Beyond finance skills, the internship gave both athletes a broader perspective on life after skiing. For Merryweather, having something to focus on outside of racing has long been an important mental outlet.
“It’s healthy to have other goals,” she said. “Even just knowing what’s out there can give you peace of mind as an athlete.”
Poulter sees the experience as a first step toward a dual-track future: continue skiing professionally, then pivot to finance when the time comes. “Being in school already keeps me aware that there’s more out there than just ski racing,” he said.
Stifel’s internship program may not involve chairlifts or finish lines, but for athletes accustomed to the intensity of competition, it offers something just as valuable: perspective. And in the long run, that might be the most important victory of all.
About the Author: Press Release
