Tony

What is your job with London 2012?
I am Head of Paralympic Planning and Athlete Villages Manager, so I have two roles.

My Paralympic role involves overseeing the integration of the needs for the Paralympic Games in every operational area and acting as the company’s primary source of contact with the International Paralympic Committee and the British Paralympic Association.

My Athlete Villages role involves working with the developer on the design and build of the main Village and preparing the operational planning and delivery of the three athlete Villages at Games time – the main Village in the Olympic Park, the Sailing Village (a cruise ship in Weymouth) and the Rowing/Flat water canoeing Village (at Royal Holloway College).

How did you get your job?
I joined the London 2012 bid team in late 2003. I started by writing about the Paralympic Games for the Candidate File (Theme 9) and then progressed to write Theme 10 Olympic Village in conjunction with Alison Nimmo whose emphasis was the regeneration piece (Alison is now a Director of the ODA).

Once ‘victorious’, I continued to develop the implementation of the two themes - hence the duality of my job title today.

What did you do before joining London 2012?
From 1999 I was a consultant/staff member with Paralympic/Villages emphasis in Sydney 2000, Salt Lake 2002, Manchester Commonwealth Games 2002 and Athens 2004.

Prior to 1999 I had been Director of Sport in a number of cities and organisations, with my last post from 1993 to 1998 being at the University of Manchester.

I have worked in sport all my life, having qualified with a degree/qualifications in physical education and management.
From 1976 to 2000 I worked as a volunteer in British disability sport, taking five British Paralympic Teams to five Paralympic Summer Games.

I have attended every Paralympic Summer or Winter Games since 1980!

What experience and qualifications do you need to do your job?
You need management experience from large projects with a fixed timeframe and significant multi-functional interfaces, both at strategic and delivery levels. People management skills are also indispensable.

And I think Games experience from two Manchester bids in 1996 and 2000, and taking teams to several Games, has proven invaluable.

What training and support are available to you?
My colleagues in the Venues & Infrastucture team bring a huge amount of the practical design and build experience to support my Village work.

And the commitment and enthusiasm of the whole London 2012 workforce for our integrated approach to the Paralympic Games is very supportive.

Training is available to me but time is scarce. But I do need to commit some to IT solutions to planning management. I am a bit of a dinosaur in some of these modern tools.

Describe a typical day.
I come into the office very early to catch up on the action list from the previous day and answer emails while it’s quiet. I also try to catch senior colleagues with difficult requests while they are still sleepy!

From 9am I attend planning meetings on a variety of Village activities – for example, the design of the residential areas, the transport mall layout, and so on.

I may chair meetings with a stakeholder such as the British Paralympic Association or the Olympic Village Steering Group, or make a presentation to other operators on subjects such as security. I always make sure I keep notes of actions and issues at each meeting as there is so much going on.

I try to leave reasonably on time as the job is a marathon, not a sprint – yet!

What is the best thing about your job?
As an Olympic and Paralympic ‘anorak’, I never thought I would end my career working on the best job in the whole world, with such direct impact on the athletes in 2012.

Since November 2003 I have been on a rollercoaster ride, working with a fantastic team with a single ambition, a phenomenal bid proposition guaranteeing inspirational Games.

It is the only job there is where you can gain 15 years of experience in five.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to work for London 2012?
To get the most out of this job you need to accept your role unconditionally; to go the extra yard; to delegate and take risks; to be a team player; and to get over any inflexibilities in your character.

If after a few weeks you are not having a ball and getting up every day buzzing with energy to do the business – leave!