Most of L.A. 2024’s bid communications until Wednesday had centered on sports and culture, emphasizing the city's ethnic diversity and tradition in Olympics, college and outdoor sports. But three new members of the leadership team focused attention on the private sector. Leading the charge was Goldman Sachs senior partner Gene Sykes, who was tapped as the group’s new CEO on Thursday. Sykes has spent his career at the world’s largest investment bank, where he advises Fortune 100 companies on major strategic decisions. Among those companies are Disney and Apple Inc., whose CEOs both volunteered personal praise for Sykes in prepared statements. Sykes called both Disney Chair & CEO Bob Iger and Apple CEO Tim Cook “very good friends of mine,” and suggested they should be seen as symbols of the bid. “You think about Disney being a native company of Los Angeles,” Sykes said. “It’s in Burbank, but nobody would argue that it’s not a Southern California/Los Angeles company. And Apple, until recently, every product Apple has ever made has said ‘designed in California.’ And Apple is so linked to California, it’s almost an eponymous thing. People think of Apple as California. That notion of what makes companies like Apple special, and people who come up with the ideas that make the Apples of the world, that’s the kind of thing we think makes Los Angeles and Southern California special. And as we appeal to the IOC member to think about what we want to do in Los Angeles, we want very much to use that philosophy."
MORE COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: One day before the Sykes announcement, L.A. 2024 added two new Vice Chairs to its bid committee -- Magic Johnson and Maria Elena Durazo. They join Gold Medal-winning swimmer Janet Evans, who was named Vice Chair & Dir of Athlete Relations in September. International Olympics observers led coverage with Johnson’s role on the '92 Dream Team, but the bid committee also emphasized his role as CEO of Magic Johnson Enterprises and partner in Guggenheim Baseball Management, the Dodgers’ ownership group. Durazo, currently VP for the Unite Here union, has been a force in Los Angeles County politics for years, getting labor-friendly candidates elected to office, pushing through jobs-heavy development projects and favorable legislation. With the L.A. City Council promising close oversight of the bid process, union support could prove crucial to the Olympic effort. Bid committees typically build leadership teams designed for both substance and image. For instance, Rome ‘24 is chaired by former Ferrari Chair and current Alitalia President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, a business titan who also led the '90 FIFA World Cup organizing committee and revitalized Ferrari’s place in F1. Also, Paris ’24 recently added three-time Gold Medal-winning canoer Tony Estanguet as co-President, done to emphasize Paris’ commitment to the Olympians themselves. The bid groups must submit their plans for the “vision, Games concept and legacy” in February, with details on legal agreements, venues, and financing coming later. The IOC will vote in September '17.
