A former Royal Bank of Canada executive has been appointed head of the company tasked with providing a legacy for the 2012 Olympics, organisers said on Tuesday.
Margaret Ford will earn 95,000 pounds a year for working up to three or four days a week as chair of the recently created 2012 legacy delivery company.
She will be responsible for securing a lasting legacy for the Olympic Park in Stratford, east London, after the Games and integrating it with a general regeneration of the area.
Legacy was at the heart of London winning the Games, but organisers have been criticised by local politicians for the apparent slow progress and the company's lack of funds.
Ford has worked in real estate business and is an honorary member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). She is also a senior independent director of service company Serco and a non-executive director of the residential landlord Grainger.
"Success in creating a vibrant, commercial, cultural and sporting park in the years after the Olympics with the strong engagement of local communities will be one of the most important tests of success in meeting our big ambitions for the Games," Olympics minister Tessa Jowell said in a statement.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson said Ford "brings with her crucial private and public sector expertise and I am excited both by her ideas and motivation."
The delivery company will take over the legacy work carried out by the London Development Agency and the mayor's legacy board of advisers.
