Bullock still lending hand to the Games

Fraser Bullock has bought into the Olympics movement big-time.

A decade after accepting the Salt Lake Organizing Committee's No. 2 position at which he initially balked, Bullock has since been leaving a global imprint on the Games.

He served as chief operations officer for one of the most successful Games in history. He took over as SLOC's president and chief executive officer two months after the 2002 Games' conclusion to oversee the shutdown and transfer of facilities and information. He performed an extensive audit of the International Olympic Committee, helped restructure the U.S. Olympic Committee and assisted in stabilizing the 2006 Torino Games before and during competition. And he provides perspective as a member of 10-person coordinating commission for the 2010 Vancouver Games.

All this, while doubling after the '02 Games as co-founder and managing director of Utah's Sorenson Capital.

"This is all in the notion of giving back to the Olympics," Bullock said of his post-2002 contributions. "Once you become part of the Olympic family, it stays with you."

When Mitt Romney took over as CEO of a beleaguered SLOC in January 1999, he waited a couple of months before contacting Bullock — a former colleague at Boston's Bain Capital — to pitch the COO position.

"I told him, 'You're looking for someone who is semi-suicidal,'" recalled Bullock, initially uninterested but wanting to help straighten the SLOC house. "Out of all the places in the world, the reputation of us as a state had been stained."

Once onboard, Bullock oversaw SLOC's operations and its $1.31 billion budget, helping it clear a profit in excess of $100 million.

To right a staggering SLOC, Romney and Bullock helped to overcome the organization's reputation, raise much-needed money and bring extensive operational plans up to speed.

"We built a fabulous team," Bullock said, underscoring the need for increased discipline. "There were great people there already, and we added to it."

Well before the start of the '02 Olympics, SLOC officials seemed confident and ready.

"I remember in August 2001 telling people, 'I think we're going to hit this one out of the park,'" he recalled. "Then came Sept. 11, and it changed everything."

The scandal, the budget woes, the operations problems — and now the threat of terrorism.

"We had people coming from 83 different countries, and we had to keep them safe," he said.

With a safe and successful '02 Games, Romney and Bullock helped put Salt Lake City and Utah in the spotlight on the world's biggest stage and blanket the Wasatch Front with pride of volunteerism and a sense of international goodwill.