International Focus Magazine Vol. 2, #5 | Page 37

Introductory : This November , Houston will host the World Corporate Games . 2017 marks the first time the global sporting event will be held in the United States since 1990 . Be a part of this multi-sport festival for businesses , organizations , and institutions after reading what they do starting below .

We sat down with Janis Burke , CEO of Houston Sports Authority , at her office front and center of a spectacular view of our baseball stadium , Minute Maid Park . She first complemented the International Focus magazine of our quality and asked about subscribing . We told her how an officer of GHP requested it in his inbox monthly and she offered to promote subscribers to help distribute it iF we ’ d like — a quality magazine that we should be proud of and so we are . Likewise , we feel the same about what the HSA is doing . Researched enough prior to our meeting though the World Health Day & World Corporate Games announcement was like a family reunion with so many consuls and the mayors ’ departments in attendance . Plenty of smiles were had as we watched our city employees play a few small games with each other . Features included the World Chamber and Consular Corps . in the promotional pamphlets and had mentioned to Janis upon meeting that had a hand in building the foundation of WCCT , in which they had helped connect to the international relationships . I began the interview after we joked about what our good sides are and how she likes my hair . I told her I was lucky iF I match in the morning ( she had a taste of my irony the evening we met at the State Dept . mix-
ers for the consular corps ) as a natural tomboy growing up and herein the sports talk began .
Sonia : Please tell us about Houston Sports Authority
We own professional sports stadiums and teams . Behind the scenes we put bids together , there is a whole team of people putting these together . Going to trade shows , meetings with national federations and international governing bodies are all required . We oversee about a billion bond dept . services to help the city and county in marketing Houston as the destination for sporting events . That ’ s the financial side , we ’ ve been hosting so many events that the last few years people have come to seek us out . To give you an example , when I was in Denmark , I was approached about Houston possibly hosting the most prestigious games next to the Olympics — an event in 2023 though we cannot say which . We will have first choice . LA is bidding for games , rules are as a country cannot solicit any other events while
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