B
Bikeadman
Guest
From the NY Times, Jan. 14:
U.S.O.C. Chief Stays On as Latest Furor Ends
By RICHARD SANDOMIR
AURORA, Colo., Jan. 13 — Lloyd Ward retained his position as the chief executive of the United
States Olympic Committee today despite an ethics report that said he had fostered "the appearance of
a conflict of interest" when he assisted his brother's business venture. "Lloyd's job was not in
danger today," Bill Stapleton, a U.S.O.C. vice president, said after a meeting of the 22-member
executive committee. "This group stands 100 percent behind him. He admits this was an error in
judgment. For us, this is over." Advertisement
Ward said: "I don't feel reprimanded. There is no mention of a reprimand." The subject of whether
Ward would remain chief executive was not raised during a nearly five-hour meeting at a suburban
hotel here, and Stapleton said 80 percent of the executive committee's members concurred with the
report's findings. Ward signed a contract in November 2001 that either Ward or the U.S.O.C. could
terminate at any time. His salary is $550,000, in addition to bonuses and performance incentives.
For more than two weeks, the executive committee has been buffeted by renewed turmoil over the
leadership at the U.S.O.C., which has had four chief executives since 2000, and what disciplinary
action, if any, might be warranted against Ward. The organization, the most powerful of all
national Olympic committees, has been described as being, at best, dysfunctional, with an unwieldy
structure that places much of its power in a 120-member board of directors with myriad interests.
Marty Mankamyer, who became the U.S.O.C.'s president last May after Sandra Baldwin resigned for
falsifying her résumé, said, "We may appear to be in costume at times, but we're O.K." Mankamyer
said she had become aware in October that Ward, in a note to a staff member last April, had said
that a proposal by Energy Management Technologies to supply microturbines for backup power at the
2003 Pan American Games "could be beneficial." At the time, Ward's brother, Rubert, was the
president of the company. With help from the U.S.O.C. staff member Hernando Madronero, the $4.6
million proposal, which fell through, reached the Pan American Games' project manager. Rubert Ward
and Energy Management Technologies' chief executive later wrote to Lloyd Ward, thanking him for his
help. Lloyd Ward's involvement was kept within the U.S.O.C. until it was disclosed by The Los
Angeles Times on Dec. 30. The ethics report determined that Ward's conduct created the appearance
of a conflict of interest and that he "failed to make a written disclosure of the potential
financial interest" of his brother in his annual disclosure to the U.S.O.C. last July. "I made an
error in judgment," Ward said, but he added, "I can't point to it as a lapse in judgment." Shortly
after the matter was disclosed publicly, Mankamyer called the accusations against Ward "serious and
disturbing." Today, Mankamyer revised her opinion. "I had not seen the ethics committee report, and
until I saw it, I couldn't make an accurate statement," she said. The report castigated the
U.S.O.C. for not enforcing its ethics code when Ward first made his request to Madronero regarding
his brother's company. Ward said today that when he saw the proposal from Energy Management
Technologies, he did not know that another company — Aggreko Inc., a power-generating company in
Houston — was a U.S.O.C. supplier that had provided backup generators to the last four Summer
Olympics and the last two Winter Games. Aggreko's role as a U.S.O.C. supplier did not guarantee
that it would receive the contract to provide backup power for the Pan Am Games in the Dominican
Republic. But as a U.S.O.C. supplier, it had more experience than Energy Management Technologies.
"I was not aware of the relationship with Aggreko," Ward said. "I'm embarrassed to say it."
Although Ward knew Sunday that the report did not accuse him of an ethics violation and that his
job was not in jeopardy, he nonetheless brought two lawyers here to make sure he received due
process at the meeting. He said he had been concerned that the "speculation aired in the press" and
the leaking of his e-mail messages to the executive committee could lead to a one-sided airing of
the issue. But, he said, "The response of the executive committee to my concerns was swift,
successful and effective." While the executive committee appears to have extinguished the brush
fire over Ward's actions, U.S.O.C. officials said that they needed to work better together to avoid
similar problems in the future. "There is a concern that we tend not to operate as a cohesive unit
at times," said Stapleton, one of the U.S.O.C.'s five vice presidents. There will be weekly
conference calls and hands-on contact with sponsors by the officers, William Martin, another vice
president, said. "We have some things to work on," Ward said. "We acknowledge that. We have a lot
of room for improvement. But a lot of things are right."
U.S.O.C. Chief Stays On as Latest Furor Ends
By RICHARD SANDOMIR
AURORA, Colo., Jan. 13 — Lloyd Ward retained his position as the chief executive of the United
States Olympic Committee today despite an ethics report that said he had fostered "the appearance of
a conflict of interest" when he assisted his brother's business venture. "Lloyd's job was not in
danger today," Bill Stapleton, a U.S.O.C. vice president, said after a meeting of the 22-member
executive committee. "This group stands 100 percent behind him. He admits this was an error in
judgment. For us, this is over." Advertisement
Ward said: "I don't feel reprimanded. There is no mention of a reprimand." The subject of whether
Ward would remain chief executive was not raised during a nearly five-hour meeting at a suburban
hotel here, and Stapleton said 80 percent of the executive committee's members concurred with the
report's findings. Ward signed a contract in November 2001 that either Ward or the U.S.O.C. could
terminate at any time. His salary is $550,000, in addition to bonuses and performance incentives.
For more than two weeks, the executive committee has been buffeted by renewed turmoil over the
leadership at the U.S.O.C., which has had four chief executives since 2000, and what disciplinary
action, if any, might be warranted against Ward. The organization, the most powerful of all
national Olympic committees, has been described as being, at best, dysfunctional, with an unwieldy
structure that places much of its power in a 120-member board of directors with myriad interests.
Marty Mankamyer, who became the U.S.O.C.'s president last May after Sandra Baldwin resigned for
falsifying her résumé, said, "We may appear to be in costume at times, but we're O.K." Mankamyer
said she had become aware in October that Ward, in a note to a staff member last April, had said
that a proposal by Energy Management Technologies to supply microturbines for backup power at the
2003 Pan American Games "could be beneficial." At the time, Ward's brother, Rubert, was the
president of the company. With help from the U.S.O.C. staff member Hernando Madronero, the $4.6
million proposal, which fell through, reached the Pan American Games' project manager. Rubert Ward
and Energy Management Technologies' chief executive later wrote to Lloyd Ward, thanking him for his
help. Lloyd Ward's involvement was kept within the U.S.O.C. until it was disclosed by The Los
Angeles Times on Dec. 30. The ethics report determined that Ward's conduct created the appearance
of a conflict of interest and that he "failed to make a written disclosure of the potential
financial interest" of his brother in his annual disclosure to the U.S.O.C. last July. "I made an
error in judgment," Ward said, but he added, "I can't point to it as a lapse in judgment." Shortly
after the matter was disclosed publicly, Mankamyer called the accusations against Ward "serious and
disturbing." Today, Mankamyer revised her opinion. "I had not seen the ethics committee report, and
until I saw it, I couldn't make an accurate statement," she said. The report castigated the
U.S.O.C. for not enforcing its ethics code when Ward first made his request to Madronero regarding
his brother's company. Ward said today that when he saw the proposal from Energy Management
Technologies, he did not know that another company — Aggreko Inc., a power-generating company in
Houston — was a U.S.O.C. supplier that had provided backup generators to the last four Summer
Olympics and the last two Winter Games. Aggreko's role as a U.S.O.C. supplier did not guarantee
that it would receive the contract to provide backup power for the Pan Am Games in the Dominican
Republic. But as a U.S.O.C. supplier, it had more experience than Energy Management Technologies.
"I was not aware of the relationship with Aggreko," Ward said. "I'm embarrassed to say it."
Although Ward knew Sunday that the report did not accuse him of an ethics violation and that his
job was not in jeopardy, he nonetheless brought two lawyers here to make sure he received due
process at the meeting. He said he had been concerned that the "speculation aired in the press" and
the leaking of his e-mail messages to the executive committee could lead to a one-sided airing of
the issue. But, he said, "The response of the executive committee to my concerns was swift,
successful and effective." While the executive committee appears to have extinguished the brush
fire over Ward's actions, U.S.O.C. officials said that they needed to work better together to avoid
similar problems in the future. "There is a concern that we tend not to operate as a cohesive unit
at times," said Stapleton, one of the U.S.O.C.'s five vice presidents. There will be weekly
conference calls and hands-on contact with sponsors by the officers, William Martin, another vice
president, said. "We have some things to work on," Ward said. "We acknowledge that. We have a lot
of room for improvement. But a lot of things are right."
