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Air Miles man to head London Olympic bid
Keith Mills, the multi-millionaire inventor of the Air Miles scheme, has today been named as chief executive for London’s 2012 Olympic bid.
It is understood that he will deal with the day to day running of the bid, while chairman Barbara Cassani will take more of a strategic overview concentrating on lobbying and marketing.
Ms Cassani commented: “I am delighted that Keith has accepted our invitation to join London 2012 as Chief Executive.
“In business he has proved he is able to take a concept and turn it into a worldwide reality. He has the skills to run the Bid and then win the support of the sporting community. We have the right man for the job.”
Mr Mills, who is also the brains behind the Nectar loyalty card, is a skilled yachtsman and was one of the crew that won the 1999 Clipper Round The World Yacht Race.
He joins the ranks of senior members of the bid who are from the airline industry. Ms Cassani was previously chief executive at Go, while the bid’s marketing director David Magliano was one of Go’s founders and helped lead the management buyout of the low cost airline from British Airways.
Paris, Madrid and New York are seen as London’s main rivals for the Games. The International Olympic Committee will decide which city is successful in July 2005.
Yesterday (Thursday) the London team learnt that it will make its presentation to the IOC seventh of the nine cities bidding for the 2012 event. It will follow Paris, Leipzig, New York, Moscow, Istanbul and Havana, and precede Madrid and Rio de Janeiro.
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