Leather joins Olympic team

David Leather, who was appointed as chief financial officer of the Olympic
Delivery Authority last week, has told Accountancy Age he is
‘delighted’ to be a part of the 2012 games.

An Ernst & Young partner and former finance head of the Manchester
Commonwealth Games, Leather will serve as the interim CFO of the Olympic
Delivery Authority’s transition team for six to 12 months until a permanent
appointment is made.

‘I am delighted to be involved. The Olympics are almost three times bigger
than the Commonwealth Games, so it is going to be a huge challenge,’ he said.

Leather, who was voted FD of the Year at the 2002 Accountancy Age
Awards, will be responsible for recruiting the interim ODA’s finance team,
developing and implementing financial systems and managing a £2.75bn budget.

He has already been attending back-to-back meetings as the interim ODA ­-
which is being run by the London Development Agency until a full-time
organisation is established by statute next year – gets down to the business of
delivering the games.

The post is the first key appointment by the interim ODA. Once his secondment
is complete, Leather said he ‘fully expected’ to return to E&Y.