With the recent selection of Rio de Janeiro as the host site for the 2016 summer Olympic games, long-time IOC member Richard Pound will share insider insights and perspective on the decision when he travels to Syracuse University to present, “Decision 2016—An Insider’s Look at How it Happened and What it Means.” The presentation will take place Sunday, Oct. 25, at 7 p.m. in the Hall of Languages, Room 107, and is free and open to the public. Pound is one of several distinguished leadership figures scheduled to visit SU this academic year through the David B. Falk Center for Sport Management in the College of Human Ecology.
Pound is also the founding chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency, where he served in this role from 1999-2007. He currently remains a member of its foundation board and was named to Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world for his unfaltering efforts to rid sports of performance-enhancing drugs.
Pound’s distinguished sports administration career has included involvement in nearly every aspect of the Olympic games. He was chairman of IOC’s Coordination Commission for the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta and, from 1984-2001, he directed all Olympic television negotiations, marketing and sponsorships. He has also participated in numerous Olympic commissions as a chairman or member.
“This is a huge coup for our Syracuse students and faculty,” says Michael D. Veley, chair and director of the Department of Sport Management in the College of Human Ecology. “For an Olympic executive of Dick Pound’s stature to speak at Syracuse University so close to the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver and on the heels of the 2016 vote in Copenhagen to select the host city is a wonderful example of how the Falk Center is seeking to facilitate the education of our students.”
Pound is a partner with Stikeman Elliott, where his main areas of practice include tax litigation, general tax advisory work and commercial arbitration. In July 2009, he was awarded the Ernest T. Stewart Award, CASE’s (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) highest honor for a graduate who has gone above and beyond the call of duty for his alma mater. He is only the second Canadian in the 56-year history of the award to receive the prize. In February 2008, he was awarded the Laureus “Spirit of Sport” prize for his work as head of the World Anti-Doping Agency. As the former chancellor of McGill University and current chancellor emeritus, Pound will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree later this year. He is a director of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
His book “Five Rings Over Korea,” dealing with the political negotiations leading to the success of the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, was published in 1994 (Little Brown & Co., Boston and New York). He published “High Impact Quotations” (Fitzhenry & Whiteside), “Inside The Olympics, a Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Politics, The Scandals, and The Glory of The Games” (John Wiley & Sons Canada Ltd), “Canadian Facts and Dates” (Fitzhenry & Whiteside) in 2004 and “Inside Dope” (John Wiley & Sons Canada Ltd) in 2006.
Pound was educated at McGill University and Sir George Williams University (now Concordia University). He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Beijing Sport University in 2006, an honorary doctor of sports administration from the Laurentian University in 2005, an honorary doctor of laws from the University of Western Ontario in June 2004, an honorary doctor of laws by the University of Windsor in 1997 and an honorary Ph.D. by the United States Sports Academy in 1989.
In 2008, David B. Falk ’72, renowned sports agent, founder and CEO of FAME, and a chair of SU’s Sport Management Advisory Board, along with his wife, Rhonda S. Falk ’74, donated a $5 million gift to SU to establish the David B. Falk Center for Sport Management in the College of Human Ecology. The Falk Center is focused on interdisciplinary academics and experiential learning.
For more information about the event, contact the Department of Sport Management at (315) 443-9881.
