Scott Hutcheson, co-founder of Aspen Properties and chairperson at WinSport, has been named the chair of Calgary 2026, the city's bid committee for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
The team is expected to be made of representatives from the city, province, federal government, the Town of Canmore as well as members from First Nations communities and the Canadian Olympic Committee.
The committee, now officially known as Calgary 2026, will complete the bid exploration and development work that began two years ago.
It will develop a more accurate hosting estimate as well as a Bid Book, that will be submitted to the International Olympic Committee in January 2019.
Hutcheson said he is looking forward to starting work on moving the bid process forwards.
"I am humbled, I am honoured, I am thrilled to be here representing the new Calgary 2026 bid corporation. Meetings start tomorrow and there is so much to learn and so much to move forward."
He says that he feels that he has a duty to give back to the community given all the support he had when he competed at the Olympic level in the alpine skiing events and serving as chair is the best way to do it.
A committee has already been formed to commence a search for a CEO for Calgary 2026.
"I am keen to put the right people in place. It's a tight deadline, but we'll meet that," Hutcheson said.
In mid-April, city council voted 9-6 in favour of continuing to pursue a 2026 Olympic bid, a venture that would cost about $30M.
Cities will be invited to bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics by the IOC in October.
Invited candidates must then submit a formal bid proposal by January and a host city will be selected by the IOC Session in September 2019.
A plebiscite aimed at gauging citizen support for the bid, has a $2M price and, if approved, will take place between October 2018 and February 2019.
The next steps for Calgary 2026 are to appoint a vice-chair, hire a CEO and work with partners to appoint members of the board.
