Los Angeles is bidding to host the Olympics for a third time after staging the Games in 1932 and 1984.
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The panel says they add expertise in sports, business and labor relations to LA’s Olympic bid.
“I was here for the 1984 Games, and I saw a city that was united and honored to welcome the world”, said Johnson, who is a co-owner of the Dodgers. Still, it’s an attention grabber this time around given that Los Angeles stepped in as the US bidder in place of Boston, where salaries and compensation for a number of executives and advisers were consistently in the headlines. “As we appeal to the global Olympic Committee members to think about what we want to do in LA, we want very much to use that philosophy, that orientation toward innovation and things that are new, and opening up the world to new experiences that can really only be driven by the kind of culture that we have out here”. Mayor Eric Garcetti believes it will help strengthen the city’s overall effort.
Johnson is also a former Olympian, having played for the 1992 United States Olympic basketball team that won a gold medal in Barcelona. “With Casey Wasserman and Gene Sykes at the helm, and our talented team around them, LA 2024 will represent the finest bid our city and our nation can offer the Olympic Movement”.
“Gene is a strong leader and we’ve always valued his advice at Apple”, said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.
“Gene is a very talented leader, with a proven ability to bring people together to achieve ambitious, complex goals”.
Sykes, who joined Goldman Sachs in 1984, grew up in the San Fernando Valley and describes himself as a lifelong resident of the Los Angeles area.
Sykes graduated from Harvard with a degree in government and later earned a MBA from Stanford. “Gene wins by ensuring that everyone involved benefits from the outcome, and that’s certainly the right approach when it comes to bringing the Games to Los Angeles”.
Sykes joins LA 2024 on the heels of other high-profile additions to the Committee.
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Trade union official María Elena Durazo also joined the bid as a vice chair.
