Daniel Doctoroff is an improbable New Yorker. He spent his childhood in Michigan, earned an undergraduate degree at Harvard University and a law degree from the University of Chicago. Doctoroff moved back East when his wife, Alisa, took a job in New York City early in their marriage. It was a decision that changed their lives in dramatic ways. He would become a private equity fund manager and partner in the financial empire of billionaire dealmaker Robert Bass. Today Doctoroff, 45, is financially independent, New York's deputy mayor for economic development and rebuilding, and the founder of  |
| Doctoroff |
NYC2012, a campaign to bring the Olympic Games to New York in 2012. During recent meetings of the International Olympic Committee in Prague, Doctoroff talked about his quest with SportsBusiness Journal correspondent Steve Woodward.
SBJ: How do you keep track of everyone you need to reach out to as part of New York's 2012 campaign?
Doctoroff: It's actually been fascinating. There are 126 people who are members of the IOC, and each one clearly requires an individual relationship because, ultimately, this is a relationship of trust that has to be established. The IOC, in selecting a city, entrusts that city with its franchise, with its values, and they have to believe the city they select will honor that trust.
SBJ: What is the real challenge of bidding for the Games?
Doctoroff: What's really important is to stay focused on the ultimate objective, which is winning, and winning with honor.
SBJ: What are the professional qualities you bring to this effort?
Doctoroff: The interesting thing about this job is it combines a series of skills that, I am learning, very few other jobs actually require in total. ... But, I've got to be honest with you, I've got a lot to learn. I think one of the things I've also seen is that it's really important to know what you don't know. In my case, it's a lot.
SBJ: What pivotal career developments delivered you to this job, leading the 2012 bid?
Doctoroff: I'd always been sort of numbers- and financials-oriented. In fact, before law school I'd even been a political pollster, which is a heavily, sort of quantitatively oriented job. [After law school] I went to work at Lehman Brothers, and after three years at Lehman I joined Robert Bass, the Bass Brothers, as a partner, and essentially was there for 14 years running a private equity investment firm.
When he was elected, [Mayor Michael Bloomberg] called me up and asked — or, the guy who handled his transition — and asked me to be deputy mayor. I said no. They called back, I said no again. ... To be honest with you, I would not have done it had it not been for 9/11. Like a lot of people in New York, 9/11 forced me to rethink things, rethink priorities. I was very fortunate in my career financially, and had done better than I ever dreamed I would. This was another way to really give back to a city to which I am extraordinarily grateful.
SBJ: What was the best or biggest deal you ever did?
Doctoroff: I was assigned to work on the restructuring of an oil field services company down in Texas. We spent roughly six months. The company was a disaster. It was the mid-1980s, the oil market had collapsed, and services companies for the oil industry all were in a terrible, terrible shape. I really learned what makes a company work, and not work. I learned fundamentally the importance of following the cash flow as the real guide to how successful a company was. I learned financial structuring skills; I learned negotiating skills. When you are in a troubled situation, everybody feels burned, the company is defensive. And how you bridge that gap to come to an acceptable solution is really a hard thing to bridge, and a hard skill to learn.
SBJ: Does your job at NYC2012 co-exist with other political ambitions?
Doctoroff: I'm having a great time, and I love my job. I absolutely love working with the mayor. We didn't really know each other before. But [politics] has never been anything that I really wanted, so I can't see it [the NYC2012 effort] overlapping in any way with any other ambitions because I don't have any.
