Four Years And Counting: Part Two

By Michelle Cyr-Whiting

Prince George, B.C. - To date, everyone involved in the mammoth effort to secure the 2015 Canada Winter Games for Prince George has volunteered his or her time...

The official search for the first paid employee - the Chief Executive Officer of the 2015 Prince George Winter Games - will be launched nationally during the second week of the upcoming 2011 Games in Halifax. (logo at right used with permission)

Tracy Calogheros, a member of the original Bid Committee, and now a founding member of the 2015 Host Society, is also part of the three-member committee tasked with finding the CEO.  Calogheros says, based on direction from the society, the committee is in the process of hiring a search firm and the 'job ad' will go out in the last week of February.  Calogheros is hoping the launch in Halifax will bring national attention to the local hunt.

2015 Host Society Chair, Anthony Everett, says the job requires a very unique skill set.  "It's a specialized job in Canada, there's probably only a handful of people that have all the background and experience of working in Games."  He says a Games' environment has so many 'moving' parts that the CEO's job is crucial to overseeing success of 'the whole'.

The search committee is hopeful that a former Games CEO may be interested, or possibly someone who's worked in a senior role at multiple games.  "So that's our goal at the moment," says Calogheros.  "And until we actually get out into the market, I don't know how tough it will be."

The Host Society is not releasing a salary range for the position.  Calogheros says, "The goal is to try and find out what's going to be necessary to bring someone here, so we're going to do that in conjunction with the search firm, as well as in meetings both Anthony and myself are hoping to have while we're in Halifax - to get a sense of what other Games have paid for the same position."

Both Calogheros and Everett admit the local host society is working with an aggressive timeline - hoping to have the CEO in place by May.  Both agree filling the position will be a huge milestone.  The first paid staff member, with others to follow. (Halifax has a staff of 65) 

It is the people filling those staff positions who will make the Prince George Games a reality in four years time.

Everett sums it up this way, "My job as chair, or any of the directors' jobs, will be to help, be a 'sounding board', create those policies that will help the staff - but really, we help them goal-set, then get out of their way and let them do the job."

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Click here for part one of this series

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