Group exploring 2026 Olympic bid releases some staff names

The names of six of 11 paid staff members tasked with studying a potential 2026 Olympic bid have been released by the Calgary Bid Exploration Committee.

The group’s new website — www. ShouldCalgaryBid.com — went live late Thursday and it lists the names and biographies of six employees drawing a salary from a portion of the $5 million Calgary city council voted in June to spend exploring the feasibility of a Winter Olympics bid. The paid staff include Brian Skeet; a 28-year veteran of the Calgary Police Service, Marco De Iaco; the former executive director of the Calgary Sport Tourism Authority, and Jolan Storch; the former business development adviser of the Canadian Olympic Committee.

Named staff include communications lead Sean Beardow, general manager Brian Hahn and Karen Parker; who is in charge of stakeholder and government relations.

De Iaco is director of the Master Facilities Plan, Skeet is in charge of security and risk, and Storch is the subcommittee lead for IOC and COC relations.

When the committee was first formed, part of the arrangement was to have a staff member come from the Calgary Sport Tourism Authority — the group that urged Calgary’s elected officials to form a bid exploration committee during a June council meeting.

The release of six of 11 staff names comes after the exploration committee refused last month to disclose a staff list citing privacy concerns— a move questioned by officials including Nenshi on Thursday.

Hahn, the former president of ATCO and the general manager of the committee, said Friday the five unnamed staff members work in an administrative role.

“They’re doing administrative tasks like scheduling meetings for us and tracking where we’re at in terms of the project. They’re not going to be the ones that are producing the recommendations that ultimately will be put in front of our committee,” he said.

Hahn, who was hired by the bid exploration committee in November, said the decision to withhold the names of support staff comes down to the personal safety of employees.

The named staff members report to the 17-member volunteer board, chaired by former police chief Rick Hanson. The names and biographies of the board were released by the city in September.

Coun. Druh Farrell, one of only two elected officials who voted against pursuing the bid exploration, said while the named employees appear to be a well-rounded group, she’s still seeking critical analysis of a potential bid.

“It’s important that there is an injection of healthy skepticism ... to ensure we’ve looked at the pros and cons of an Olympic bid,” she said.

Hahn said recommendations from the paid employees concerning a potential bid will go through several levels of review: the volunteer board, city administration and ultimately city council for a vote.

“Have a look at the committee,” he said. “There are past Olympic athletes on there for sure, but there are people from the arts and culture community, there are CEOS of corporations, there are people from legal. It’s a broad crosssection ... They’re not all rah-rah boosters of this, they want to have a critical look at this.”