Retired three-star Army lieutenant general Reynold Hoover was appointed CEO of LA28 in June 2024 to lead preparations for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles. Hoover embraces a leadership style forged through over 40 years of military and public service, emphasizing clear organizational structures, strategic personnel placement, and disciplined plan execution under an immovable deadline. His approach values making timely decisions based on available information and adapting as conditions evolve. Since taking the helm, Hoover has overseen substantial growth in LA28’s staff from about 120 to over 1,000 employees while maintaining a retention rate near 95%, underpinning a strong and cohesive team culture.

Hoover’s path to leading the Olympics began with a family legacy of military service and an influential suggestion from his older brother, who encouraged him to attend West Point to become an Army officer. Arriving at West Point in 1979, Hoover encountered rigorous academics and a defining calculus experience that taught him critical leadership lessons. Despite math not being his forte, he learned to approach complex problems with logic, confidence, and flexibility—skills vital for decision-making when all information isn’t known and perfect answers aren’t immediately available. This mindset now shapes his leadership at LA28, where moving projects forward efficiently is paramount.

Hoover sees a strong parallel between military operations and Olympic event management, noting that both rely on intricate plans, logistics, and coordinated execution under pressure. His time observing the Paris 2024 Summer Games reinforced the need to align LA28’s headquarters around operational pillars like plans and logistics, mirroring military command structures. Hoover prioritizes appointing capable leaders, empowering them with authority, and then stepping back to let them operate. This strategy is designed to navigate the enormous challenges behind the scenes of an event hosting 15,000 athletes and 60,000 volunteers across many venues and government agencies.

With the Olympic Opening Ceremony fixed for July 14, 2028, Hoover must steer the organization through uncertainty without any scheduling flexibility. He stresses that leadership is about responding quickly to challenges and learning from failures rather than waiting for perfect conditions. His extensive military and government experience has prepared him to uphold this disciplined yet adaptive culture at LA28. For Hoover, coming out of retirement to lead LA28 fulfills a lifelong commitment to service and teamwork, culminating in delivering the largest Olympic and Paralympic Games in history.