Restructuring Plan in Works for USOC

The U.S. Olympic Committee is laying plans to shed 13% of its staff--meaning five to six dozen of about 500 paid employees--under a restructuring program launched by its new corporate-style chairman, Norman P. Blake Jr.

Sources cautioned Thursday that details are still being finalized of what one called a “significant reorganization,” a “top-to-bottom” overhaul that will touch “every single department” at the USOC, a $120-million-per-year operation.

Another source said that Blake is “trying to streamline the organization from a manpower standpoint and an expense standpoint,” adding, “He’s trying to cut the fat.”

Such a program has been widely expected since Blake was hired in February amid a mandate to bring corporate-style controls and structure to the USOC. Based in Colorado Springs, it governs Olympic and amateur sports in the United States.

Blake, 58, came to the USOC after it had commissioned a consultant’s report that said it needed more of a corporate-style culture and business-savvy leadership.

In Blake, the USOC got a man with a reputation as a corporate turn-around artist and noted cost-cutter. In the 1990s, he engineered a turnaround at Baltimore insurer and financial services provider USF&G--which; he jump-started by cutting costs and slashing the work force by 30%.

At a meeting Tuesday in Colorado Springs with representatives of various U.S. sports bodies, Blake laid out his restructuring plans for the USOC and his 13% target, sources said.

A series of announcements Thursday from Colorado Springs made it clear that a transition in senior management is already under way at the USOC.

Tom Wilkinson, a USOC assistant executive director since 1990, is retiring, Blake said in a statement.

Hernando Madronero, an insurance executive who worked with Blake at USF&G; from 1993-98, was named the USOC’s new director of international relations. Madronero, a native of Colombia, has lived in the United States since 1971.

In addition, Mark Lewis is taking over the duties Blake had assumed last month as president of OPUS, the joint marketing venture the USOC runs with the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Games. Lewis, currently SLOC’s vice president for marketing and licensing, will retain that post.

Finally, Dave Ogrean--who since last June has been the USOC’s marketing director--announced two weeks ago that he will be resigning effective April 30.