With the naming of a new leader for its marketing partnership with the U.S. Olympic Committee, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee is now in charge of selling national sponsorships for the 2002 Winter Games.
Mark Lewis, SLOC vice president of marketing and licensing, on Thursday was named as the new president and chief executive officer of the partnership, the Olympic Properties of the United States, or OPUS. He will continue as an SLOC vice president and, as part of his new position, will take on responsibility for the Colorado Springs-based USOC's efforts related to the marketing partnership.
Lewis is the first organizing committee official and the fourth person to hold the top job in the 3-year-old partnership. Lewis replaces Norm Blake, the new head of the USOC who had put himself in charge of the sales effort just a month ago.
He in turn had taken over the marketing job from USOC executive director Dick Schultz. Both Schultz and marketing director Dave Ogrean have resigned since Blake came on board in February with a pledge to overhaul the organization.
Lewis said the change is going to be good for both organizations. "It's a real strong testament to Mitt (Romney) and Norm, putting petty politics aside to do what makes the most sense," he said.
There is a long history of behind-the-scenes bickering between the organizing committee and the USOC over their joint marketing effort to sell sponsorships to both the 2002 Games and the U.S. Olympic teams through the 2004 Summer Games in Athens.
SLOC President Mitt Romney couldn't be more pleased with the choice — especially since he said it was his idea. "In my first meeting with Norm, I recommended Mark be considered as the person to run OPUS for obvious reasons," he said.
Those reasons include making it easier to make deals, since Lewis can negotiate on behalf of both organizations during the final push for new corporate sponsors before the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney begin in September.
Organizers still need to raise as much as $98 million from corporate sponsors to meet their nearly $1.32 billion budget. Money raised from the sale of corporate sponsorships is split between the USOC and the organizing committee.
Also Thursday, Blake named Hernando Madronero, an insurance company executive he once worked with, to oversee international relations for the USOC.
The USOC's previous international relations director, Alfredo LaMont, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Utah last month to two counts of tax fraud in connection with the Salt Lake bid scandal.
Madronero, who is originally from Colombia but has lived in the United States since 1971, was regional president of The St. Paul Companies, a conglomerate that sells insurance worldwide.
He oversaw the merger between the conglomerate and USF&G Corp. in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. Blake was the head of USF&G, a Baltimore insurer and financial services provider, until the company was sold in 1998 for $3.5 billion.
The USOC announced, too, that Tom Wilkinson is retiring this month after 10 years as assistant executive director of administration.