Point of personal privilege: We pause to remember our late friend, Frank Gifford, also a friend of Alaska. (Photo with Kathy Lee Gifford, by Bruce Glikas / FilmMagic). See "Today News".
Rick Mystrom and Rick Nerland had kindly asked me to join the non profit board of our Anchorage Organizing Committee (AOC) for the Winter Olympics in the late 1980s. In my volunteer board role, I served a 'Television Commissioner', charged with developing relationships with and support from American television and radio networks who could someday compete for Anchorage Olympic broadcast rights. Money obtained from such licenses are designed to largely pay the lion's share of infrastructure and operating costs for the host cities.
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Assuming we would maintain the coveted title of "America's Favorite" from the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and then go on to win the International Olympic Committee (IOC) bid we could have hosted the 1992 Winter Olympics (subsequently held in Albertville, France), or the 1994 Winter Olympics (hosted by Anchorage's rival, Lillehammer, Norway). But those stories will have to be told another day.
As we competed for the 1994 games, I was honored — on behalf of the AOC — to participate in Olympic meetings in Lausanne, Salt Lake City, Calgary, New York and Washington D.C., getting to know some network CEOs and many Olympic-interested executives. Other members of our board spread out to cover other meetings throughout the world, interfacing with other Olympic constituencies, particularly the voting IOC members themselves. Our objective: increase support for IOC election of Anchorage as a host city.
As the competition increased, AOC's board asked me to organize a fundraising event in New York City with the dual purpose of bringing home to Anchorage badly needed operating money for AOC but, just as important, establishing credibility on the national and international stage.
With a background in grassroots advocacy both nationally, involving Congressional action, and in Alaska, my first step was to share the mission with well-connected Alaska friends.
George Wuerch, headed up the Alaska office for Fluor, an affiliate of Sebasco Services, headquartered at the World Trade Center in NYC. Through George's intervention, I was to be given a temporary office and Sebasco's Chairman agreed to be one of three Co-Chairmen for the big event.
more coming….
Petroleum News by Eric Lidji. A small bump in oil prices early in the year helped ConocoPhillips earn $195 million from its Alaska operations during the second quarter – up from the first quarter of the year but down considerably from a year ago, when oil prices topped $100 per barrel.
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