Carlos Neuhaus Lasting Legacy

Carlos Neuhaus on Leading Lima 2019 and Creating a Lasting Legacy

Optimizing resources and organizing people made the Pan Am Games a success

Carlos Neuhaus Tudela, ’74, is enjoying a victory lap of sorts following the success of Lima 2019.

As President of the Organizing Committee of the Pan American and Parapan American Games, Neuhaus led the massive organization, which had a total budget estimated at $1.2 billion (US), 11,315 volunteers, 1,000 hours of competitions and ceremonies broadcast, and a total of 6,508 athletes.

Peru was named as host of the Pan American and Parapan American Games, the fourth largest sporting event in the world, at a ceremony in Toronto in 2013. It was the first time for the country of 32 million people to host the Games. When Neuhaus took the reins as President of the Organizing Committee in 2016, very little had been done to plan the nearly 800 events in 56 sports.

Neuhaus immediately began making up for lost time. Previously extravagant plans were scaled back and Lima 2019 began finding ways to save time and money by optimizing the funding and procurement related to the Games’ construction projects.

LEGACY: NEW MODEL OF PROCUREMENT, INNOVATION, TRANSPARENCY

Since the Games wrapped up on Sept. 1, Neuhaus has received accolades for the smooth running of the events and for creating a management and organization model that allowed them to come in under its original budget. In fact, there is discussion at a national level about Lima 2019 leaving a legacy that will change how the public sector incorporates private project management tools in the future.

Neuhaus met with the country’s new Minister of Economy and Finance to share some details about how he and his team

The president of Panam Sports, Chilean Neven Ilic (L) and the president of the organizing committee of the Lima 2019 PanAmerican Games, Peruvian Carlos Neuhaus, onstage during the opening ceremony of the Games at the National Stadium in Lima, on July 26, 2019. - The Pan-American Games ran until August 11. (Photo by Cris BOURONCLE / AFP via Getty Images)

overcame the legal, financial, and technical challenges related to the timely execution of the major infrastructure projects – stadiums, arenas, housing facilities – required for the Pan American Games.

The motto for Lima 2019 was ‘Let’s All Play’ or ‘Jugamos Todos.’ Neuhaus’s personal mottos were closer to ‘Let’s All Work Together’ and ‘Never Give Up.’

The success of the Lima 2019 Games was based in large part on Neuhaus’ application of various mechanisms that allowed the rapid execution of the budget; among them, a key government-to-government (G2G) agreement with the United Kingdom.

In April 2017, the UK and Peru signed an innovative G2G agreement making the UK their key partner in supporting the delivery of the Lima 2019 Pan American and Parapan American Games. Through this agreement Peru received UK assistance and knowledge-transfer to aid their preparations and delivery of the games.

Thanks to the G2G agreement, the two countries shared best practices across a wide range of specializations, including planning, management, contracting, and execution of infrastructure works, which combined to allow Peru to work under international laws, ultimately facilitating the bidding processes for projects.

As part of the agreement, a team of UK experts with experience running more than 100 major sporting events such as the 2012 Olympics was able to work closely with the Lima 2019 organizing committee, helping it deliver the infrastructure and organization of the games on-time and on-budget.

Most of the funds were dedicated to the construction of permanent sports infrastructure, like the first Olympic size

swimming pool since 1962, which Peru hopes will lead to more bids for elite competitions in the future.

LEGACY: PERUVIAN ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR The honors started coming in. In part, because of this G2G agreement and new models for procurement, innovation, and transparency that came from it, Neuhaus was named the “Peruvian Entrepreneur of the Year” in November.

He received the Medal of Honor for Citizen Merit and an honorary degree from the Association of Journalists of Peru. And the Mayor of Lima conferred the Order of Merit Medal in the rank of “Gran Cruz” to Carlos Neuhaus for organizing the Games.

Neuhaus, who had previously been recognized by the president of Peru and Peruvian Congress, thanked the dignitaries from Lima for awarding him the medal of the city. “All the work we did was for the athletes. Each medal they won was recognition for us. That’s why we celebrated each of their victories. I’m very grateful for this honor. To tell you the truth, I didn’t expect this distinction, but it is very important to me because this medal was also awarded to my father many years ago. I’m honored to receive this medal on behalf of the city,” said the president of COPAL, Organizing Committee of the Lima 2019 Pan American and Parapan American Games.

“I am moved to receive this type of recognition because I feel like we made Peru proud. We ran a race filled with obstacles and we overcame everything for the athletes, who were our primary motivation,” said Neuhaus, who earned his master’s degree in International Management from Thunderbird in 1974.

LEGACY: AN ARMY OF AMBASSADORS

The “we” Neuhaus refers to is a very large team that included several other Thunderbird alumni and a network of volunteers, which in itself leaves a social legacy. Thunderbird alumni in volved included Glenn Cameron ’90, Carlos Manuel Lazarte ’03, Carlos Manuel Lazarte ’03, and Christian van Oordt ’04. This army of volunteers was recognized frequently throughout the Games for its kindness, joy, proactivity, and teamwork. As part of the campaign to recruit volunteers, coordinators made about 400 visits to municipalities, universities, institutes, schools, federations, public institutions, and private companies throughout Peru. These organizations became strategic partners in recruiting thousands of volunteers.

A total of 11,311 volunteers participated in the Pan American Games and 5,500 in the Parapan American Games. Volunteers came from Lima, outside of the capital, and from abroad. The Lima 2019 volunteers became ambassadors of Peru’s culture and traditions, with an enhanced sense of citizenship and diversity. Organizers are proud of the team of volunteers from across the country.

“We left a social legacy of trained volunteers who can help with any campaign,” said Angela Morales, head of the volunteer program.

“The volunteers became the soul of the Games,” Neuhaus said. “It would have been difficult without them. We had over 100,000 people interested in the program. They helped us in different departments, always with smiles on their faces. It was amazing because they were always ready to help.”

LEGACY: SAFETY, SECURITY, AND SURFING Carlos Neuhaus took on a great challenge. And the man who has surfing in his blood, who turned to sport as a child to help heal himself from the effect of asthma, knew the Lima 2019 Games would be the basis of his legacy in many respects. Two years and 10 months after Neuhaus took on the magnanimous challenge of building the infrastructure and the supporting human network necessary to kick off Peru’s biggest sporting event, the 2019 Pan American and Parapan American Games began.

“We couldn’t let the country be ashamed before the Americas and be known as a country that fails to fulfill a commitment. That was our main motivation,” Neuhaus said.

Peru was far from ashamed. Lima 2019 had 21 sports that were qualifiers for Tokyo 2020, attracting leading sports figures from the Americas.

Perhaps the numbers speak for themselves. In total, 80 Pan American Games records were broken in seven sports while Brady Ellison of the United States broke the World Record in the 70-meter individual archery competition.

A grand total of 3,028 medals were awarded at Lima 2019: 419 gold, 419 silver, and 523 bronze, with the United States, once again, topping the medal table with an impressive total of 293 medals.

All the numbers big and small indicate that the summary of the Lima 2019 Pan American Games was extremely positive. Up next for Neuhaus? The former head of the Peruvian Surf Federation continues to ride the crest of the Lima 2019 wave. In December, he took the reins of the Association of Shopping and Entertainment Centers of Peru, where he intends to continue fine-tuning the new management and organization model he developed for the Games.

As the afterglow dims, what remains is a super-charged sense of national pride for what was a spectacular Games.