John McLaughlin, Concert Chief Financial Officer, played an integral role in bringing the 2010 Olympic Winter Games to Vancouver. After serving as the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation and the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) for over a decade, he received the Olympic Order from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Now, seven years after the Vancouver-hosted games, McLaughlin is serving as an expert advisor on finance and marketing for the IOC Evaluation Commission, as it prepares its report for the IOC Committee, who will then make the selection for the 2024 host city.
Having held this role four times, this year McLaughlin will travel to candidate cities Los Angeles and Paris in the spring to address detailed technical matters with local representatives. He, along with other technical experts and members of the Evaluation Commission, will report their findings and recommendations to the IOC members before they elect the 2024 host city in Lima, Peru in September 2017.
“The 2010 Olympics provided Vancouver with the chance to welcome the world and share our beautiful city,” says McLaughlin. “I am thrilled to be involved in the process again and look forward to watching another city enjoy the spotlight and all the benefits that the Olympics can bring.”
Vancouver continues to benefit from three massive infrastructure improvements spurred on by the games: the Sea-to-Sky Highway upgrade, which has reduced vehicle collisions by one-third; the Canada Line, which transports an average daily ridership of over 228,000; and, the Vancouver Convention Centre, which hosts over 500 events each year. In addition, smaller infrastructure projects including new community centres, the Olympic Village in Whistler and the Richmond Olympic Oval brought new community amenities to surrounding municipalities.