The team at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics Committee continues to shake up — this time, as SVP of human resources Kristina Guillen steps down.
Guillen’s resignation came just two weeks after chief legal officer Tanja Olano left her role after LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman reiterated he would not be stepping down, despite the ongoing scandal over his alleged extramarital affairs with female staffers.
No specific reason was given for Guillen’s departure, but she had been with LA28 for less than four months. Olano, meanwhile, had served as both Wasserman’s top advisor and legal counsel for the city’s Olympics efforts since 2015.
“With new leadership, it’s logical that staffing changes will be made. No other conclusions should be drawn,” an individual with knowledge of the matter told TheWrap. “It’s a natural transition for turnover coming out of the Paris Games as LA28 embarks on its next chapter.”
Of Guillen’s exit, a spokesperson for LA28 said they “will not discuss personnel or specific people,” but echoed that the end of the Paris Games marks “a natural time of transition, and staffing changes are to be expected.”
Both departures follow an August Daily Mail report in which 11 sources accused Wasserman of having a “chronic condition of sleeping with people who work for him,” further labeling him a “serial cheater.”
“I’m going to do my job and do it till the end,” the Wasserman agency mogul told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin at the CNBC x Boardroom: Game Plan Summit earlier this month. “I’m the one who’s got the most invested and the most capable of delivering the [best] result for the city.”
“Consider the source,” he continued, addressing the Daily Mail’s exposé. “If The Daily Mail qualifies as reporting, I guess we’re all in trouble … We live in a day where people can say whatever they want, without facts, without cooperation, without sources and it is the world we live in. The wind hits the tall trees.”
The Daily Mail’s report detailed a years-long history of alleged affairs that included former secretary and chief of staff Patricia Feau, who is now vice president of host city relations for the LA28 Olympics; Kristen Merrill, a human resources employee; and Jenny Chandler, a former flight attendant on Wasserman’s private jet and his current girlfriend. Feau denied the allegations.
Two weeks after the scandal broke, Billie Eilish (who helped close the Paris 2024 Olympics), dropped Wasserman as her live booking agent alongside brother Finneas O’Connell in favor of William Morris Endeavor. “While grateful to their former live booking agents at Wasserman, Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell have opted to have film, TV and music handled by the same agency, WME, moving forward,” her spokesperson told TheWrap at the time.
Sharon Waxman contributed to this report.
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