Managing Director, Donegal Associates
Mike was born and raised in Fredericton, New Brunswick where he received an undergraduate degree in Business and Economics from St. Thomas University and a Masters degree in Sports Administration from Concordia University in Montreal. Over his 25 plus years in business he has held leadership roles in professional sports, the entertainment industry, public/private partnerships and sporting goods, largely focused on top line revenue growth and bottom line results, capital stack funding models as well as brand development.
Over the last ten years Mike has built, and currently serves as Managing Director for Donegal Associates, whose business focuses on public/private partnerships, assessment of enterprise performance and opportunities for growth, compilation of capital stacks to finance a variety of developments and businesses and the development of fundraising strategies in the not-for-profit industry, private industry and government.
Mike began his career in sports at the National Hockey League with oversight of the NHL Super Series, staging and promoting NHL member club training camps and preseason games throughout eastern and western Europe. He later joined the NHL Players Association where he served as Executive Producer for a weekly television program on TSN and ESPN called “Be a Player”, developed a line of licensed apparel with famed Canadian retailer Roots, also called “Be a Player” and a line of “Be a Player” trading cards with market leader Upper Deck. Following his three years at the NHLPA, Mike joined the American Hockey League as the head of sales and marketing when the league had only 14-member clubs eventually growing the League to 28 teams. In 1999, Mike joined the NHL’s expansion team, Columbus Blue Jackets who would play their first game in the fall of 2000. In 2003, ESPN the Magazine rated the Blue Jackets arena experience as #1 in all the four major professional sports leagues.
In 2004 Mike was recruited to join the NBA’s Sonics and WNBA’s Storm to oversee the business side of the two franchises. Mike has also held roles with the NHL Washington Capitals/WNBA Washington Mystics as Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer, Vice President of Global Marketing for K2 Sports where he was responsible for 17 sporting goods brands marketed and sold in 60 countries and Chief Operating Officer for Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer.
He joined the Arizona Coyotes of the NHL in October of 2013 as Executive Vice President, Partnership and Premium Sales from the Memphis Grizzlies where he served as Chief Revenue Officer overseeing all revenue streams for the Grizzlies and FedExForum. The Grizzlies were named the best overall professional sports franchise among 122 teams in the four major North American professional sports leagues (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL) in ESPN The Magazine’s 2013 Ultimate Standings.
In 2018 and 2019 Mike worked with the City of Memphis on the renovation of the “New” Renasant Convention Center while also securing a long-term naming rights agreement with Renasant Bank for Renasant Convention Center. Additionally, Mike worked with the City of Memphis and the University of Memphis to establish a long term public/private partnership, raising the necessary funds to cover the cost of this new facility, resulting in the “New” Leftwich Tennis Center (opening in November of 2023), home the men’s and women’s varsity tennis while open to the public. At the US Open this past September in New York City, Leftwich was named the “Featured Facility of the Year”, the highest honor bestowed by the USTA on a tennis facility.
He serves as a Board Chair for the Hockey Canada Foundation, USA Chapter. He also serves on the Executive Advisory Board member for Fogelman College of Business and Economics at the University of Memphis, Board Member for Overton Park Conservancy and Board Member for Junior Achievement Midsouth.
