Los Angeles 2024 is staffing up.
With the two-year campaign for the Olympics underway, the U.S. nominee’s bid committee is building out its executive team and securing the services of senior advisers and promoters, while also in the market for a CEO who will lead LA 2024’s day-to-day management.
LA 2024 Chair Casey Wasserman, who has been leading the effort to date, will remain active as a high-level advocate of the bid.
A committee spokesman declined to say how large the committee’s staff eventually will be, but past Olympic organizing committees have employed anywhere from 20 to 50 or more people, along with extensive help from a range of contractors, informal advisers and government experts.
So far, the committee has hired independent consultants Teneo Sports, JTA and George Hirthler to guide it through the complex competition with Paris; Rome; Budapest, Hungary; and Hamburg, Germany.
Atlanta-based Teneo is led by Terrence Burns, a former Delta Air Lines marketer who advised successful bids in Beijing (2008), Sochi (2014) and Pyeongchang (2018) as well as Almaty, Kazakhstan’s surprising near-upset of Beijing for the 2022 Winter Games.
U.K.-based JTA is led by Jon Tibbs, who advised Sochi, Istanbul and Munich on their recent bids, as well as London’s successful bid to host the 2017 IAAF World Championships.
Hirthler is a creative campaign specialist who has led communications strategies for 10 Olympic bid cities, including the last two American efforts from New York (2012) and Chicago (2016).
“We’re pleased to bring on these experienced and savvy teammates to help us develop L.A.’s bold and fiscally responsible Games plan,” bid committee spokesman Jeff Millman said.
On Sept. 29, the committee hired Brian Nelson as its general counsel. Nelson, who served in the U.S. Justice Department’s national security division and was general counsel to the California Justice Department, was offered to the committee by his boss, California Attorney General Kamala Harris. Nelson was chosen to add expertise in security issues and public policy.
“Brian’s state and federal experience is just what we need to handle the wide range of legal matters affecting the committee,” Wasserman said in a statement.
The committee’s legal team includes Rich Llewellyn, longtime adviser to Mayor Eric Garcetti; deputy mayoral counsel Manav Kumar; and Proskauer partner Jon Oram. Proskauer has been involved with the bid from its earliest days, as was sport-venue design and development firm AECOM.
Five-time Olympic swimming medalist Janet Evans also agreed to join as vice chair and director of athlete relations, an attempt to signal Los Angeles’ intention to make athlete comfort and convenience a high priority.
