February 11 - Ian Troop (pictured), a long-time food and consumer-goods executive with extensive experience in sports, has been chosen as the $350,000 (£212,000) per year chief executive of the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, it was announced today.

Troop will oversee the $1.4 billion (£848 million) budget for the event, which will include competition and training venue agreements, marketing and staging the events.

He is stepping down as an adviser with OMERS Private Equity to take the position.

Troop has more than 28 years of experience in the consumer packaged goods industry, including Procter & Gamble and ConAgra Foods International.

He said: "We have time, but we have no time to waste.

"I will use my 28 years of battle-tested business experience to make sure we deliver; we will balance the need to deliver a powerful vision with the need to be fiscally responsible.

"The Games are a massive undertaking.

"But even the longest journey begins with first step."

Troop was a high school sports star who was once drafted by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League.

He also served on an eight-man advisory board to provide legal and business advice to the National Hockey League Players' Association.

Roger Garland, the chairman of Toronto 2015, said: "Ian Troop brings an exceptional scope of skills and work experience to this highly complex project.

"He is a self-starter who has built organisations from the ground up and has proven he can motivate and lead diverse groups in challenging environments."

Toronto was awarded the 2015 Pan American Games last November.


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November 2009: Toronto awarded 2015 Pan American Games