Peter V. Ueberroth, managing director of Contrarian Group, an investment and management company and owner and co-chairman of the Pebble Beach Company will receive the 2011 John Wooden Global Leadership Award at a dinner on Monday, May 23 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The event will feature a unique presentation on Coach John Wooden's Pyramid of Success led by prominent community leaders and the award recipient himself.
Ueberroth's successful management career includes the founding of First Travel Corporation in 1962 (by the time he sold the company 18 years later it was the second largest travel company in North America) and a stint as commisioner of Major League Baseball in the 1980s. But his most renowned accomplishment was as president of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, the organization responsible for staging the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games -- the first privately financed Games -- resulting in a surplus of $238 million, that continues to support youth and amateur-related sports programs throughout the United States.
In 2009, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Los Angeles Olympics, Ueberroth told UCLA Magazine:
"The citizens of Los Angeles came together to accomplish two objectives. [To host] great games for the athletes of the world and to make the country proud. We accomplished that."
From a business standpoint, Ueberroth and the organizing committee (which included UCLA Anderson benefactor and Board of Visitors member Jim Easton) forever changed the way Olympic games were managed.
"We changed the paradigm," Ueberroth told UCLA Magazine. "In Montreal (site of the 1976 Summer Olympics), they had over 150 sponsors. We narrowed it down to about a dozen. We gave them value and protection against their competitors. Coca-Cola was the first lead sponsor that we signed. Prior to that, no sponsor ever committed a million dollars in cash, but I'm guessing their sponsorship was $7–$10 million dollars. It was a huge breakthrough." Corporate sponsorships brought in approximately $126 million, six times more than similar programs had raised at Lake Placid or Montreal.
Each year, the John R. Wooden Global Leadership Award honors one exceptional leader for his/her exemplary leadership style and service to the community. Proceeds from the dinner fund $25,000 John Wooden Leadership Fellowships awarded to deserving UCLA Anderson MBA students.
Prior winners of the Wooden Global Leadership Award are Frederick W. Smith, Chairman, President & CEO of FedEx; Kenneth Chenault, Chairman & CEO of American Express Company and Howard Schultz, Chairman, President and CEO, Starbucks.
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