Distinguished Alumni Award Winner Profile

When Lisa Hindson moved across the ocean to attend the University of Iowa, it was not a decision made lightly. 

Hindson uprooted her life from her native Australia for the promise of a first-class education in sports management. Over the course of three years at Iowa, she earned an MA, MBA, and PhD and mastered as much French as possible. Hindson had a goal to someday work for the International Olympic Committee. 

With her three new degrees, excellent internship experience, and passable French (French and English are the official languages of the IOC), Hindson was hired to work for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games Organizing Committee.

Her role at the 2000 Sydney Olympics so impressed the IOC that she was awarded the Golden Rings Award for her contribution to the success of the Games. Hindson then accepted the IOC’s offer, moving to Switzerland to become head of IOC Games Operations and a member of the senior management team. 

During her tenure, she transformed how the IOC worked with organizing committees to deliver the Games. This work has now become standard practice and has contributed meaningfully to the Olympics the public knows and loves. 

Hindson resigned from her position in 2007 to launch her own sport consulting firm, LHC Global, but continued to work with the IOC as a contractor until 2023. LHC Global provided expertise to Olympic and Paralympic Games, including those held in Sochi in 2014, Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Paris in 2024, and Milan and Cortina earlier this year. 

Today, Hindson is in high demand internationally as a specialist advisor on Olympic and Paralympic bid development and Games delivery.