Former USOC CMO Lisa Baird has resigned her position with the LA28-USOC marketing joint venture, just weeks after she transitioned away from the USOC to begin selling for the ’28 Games. She will remain with the Games marketing arm to facilitate a transition in the short term, with her last day being Sept. 7. She declined to share her future plans, but she will take a similar position at New York Public Radio. “I am incredibly grateful for 10 years with some of the most talented, committed people in the world who work on the Olympic movement,” Baird said. “It’s a bittersweet time to step away, but there are times you put your family first, and this is one of those.”
Baird spent more than nine years at the USOC, overseeing a period in which Team USA’s domestic sponsorship portfolio recovered quickly after the recession, and then expanded to 26 partners by the ’16 Rio Games. She signed brands including Nike, BMW, Hershey and Polo Ralph Lauren. However, six sponsors declined to renew after Rio, including stalwarts like A-B and AT&T, and L.A.’s successful pursuit of Olympic hosting rights kicked off a period of change as the entire portfolio will be up for review in the next two years.
One of Baird’s key priorities was developing the Team USA brand as an identity that remains in the public eye during the long stretches between Games. To that end, she developed a digital strategy, helped develop a reality show-style open tryout for Olympic teams and enhanced the pre-Olympics experiential campaigns that created new assets to sell to sponsors. Before joining the USOC, she spent time with the NFL, IBM and GM.
At the LA28 joint venture, Baird was going to be servicing existing USOC sponsors and aiding the organizing committee’s efforts to build a new portfolio. LA28 Chair Casey Wasserman said it was too early to say who would be taking over her duties. “She did an incredible job and obviously I’m professionally sorry to see her go and wish her continued success,” Wasserman said.
USOC Chair Larry Probst said Baird was a “dynamic leader and innovative marketer.” “We’re sad to see her leave but we wish her the best, and we know she will always be Team USA’s biggest fan,” Probst said.
