Over the weekend, an apparent joint effort between virulent anti-Vision Vancouver critics Alex Tsakumis and Mike Klassen culminated in two separate posts about consultant Linda Oglov.
But who is Linda Oglov and what exactly did she do for the City? Well, let’s take a look at everything that these two City Hall opponents failed to examine in detail.
First of all, Linda Oglov previously served as:
o VP Marketing for Vancouver’s bid for the Games (we know how that worked out)
o VP Marketing for the 1994 Commonwealth Games
o Director of Entertainment/Marketing for Expo 86
The Mayor’s office brought her in for a sole sourced contract based on her local experience of maximizing the potential of large scale events that have previously overtaken British Columbia.
Bottom line, I don’t care how much she charges the city AS LONG AS the results are assessed on one key criteria: Return On Investment.
Now, amongst her many “deliverables,” Oglov was responsible for:
- Negotiating the CTV broadcast agreement for LiveCity
- Negotiating the contract with BrandLive for Vancouver House
- Leading the design of the 2010 business plan (NOTE: there was NO business plan under the NPA)
- Guidance and attendance at all MVC meetings during the Games
- One on one business meetings with international business guests
Most importantly, she acted as the key liaison with the Mayor’s office and the VEDC to ensure that the Metro Vancouver Commerce program produced results. And, as was reported within six weeks of the Olympics and Paralympics shutting down, $60 million in investment was brought into the region, with the majority of that ending up within the City of Vancouver`s borders. That of course includes these deals thus far:
- A partnership between Vancouver energy management company Pulse Energy with Southfacing, to license Pulse’s technology in the UK;
- Greenlight PM, an international management consultant firm from Spain, will open their North American headquarters in Vancouver;
- Pro-Special, a process management consulting firm from the Netherlands, will open an office in Vancouver;
- EPCM, a project management company from Germany that specializes in energy and clean technology, have established an office in Vancouver;
- Monetime, an American web start-up that chose to establish their head office in Vancouver over San Francisco.
Klassen and Tsakumis will have you believe that Oglov was there solely for the purpose of the staffing the Mayor.
That is completely false, and their posts conveniently disregard all of the other responsibilities she presided over as per the terms of her contract
Not everything with the Mayor is partisan. During the Olympics, Gregor Robertson was the representative of the City – the Host Mayor. Making sure the hosting was done right meant the whole city benefited.
They slam the purpose of Vancouver House, even though it was where the city held several business receptions – the ones that resulted in millions of dollars of new deals. But yeah, that was of course a huge disaster in the world of those that cannot stand to see Vision in power.
Klassen in particular has ramped up his attacks because the NPA nominations for Council candidates are just around the corner, and his own candidacy is a distinct possibility at this point.
More about Klassen`s contracts back in the day are coming to light from CivicScene sources. More details to follow very soon.
