Chris Dempsey

USA

Role

Co-Founder

Organization

No Boston Olympics

Chris Dempsey is the co-founder of No Boston Olympics, the organisation that led the opposition of the Boston 2024 Olympic bid. The campaign began as a grassroots effort in 2013 and continued until July 2015, when the city took itself out of the running to host the Olympic Games.

In 2015, Dempsey was named Bostonian of the Year by the Boston Globe Magazine for his volunteer work leading the city’s debate about hosting the Games. Along with Professor Andrew Zimbalist, Dempsey is the co-author of No Boston Olympics: How and Why Smart Cities Are Passing on the Torch.

Dempsey was formerly Assistant Secretary of Transportation for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the administration of Governor Deval Patrick. He has also worked as a consultant at Bain & Co. on a number of local and statewide political campaigns, including that of Congressman Joe Kennedy III, and at a transportation technology startup that provides mobile ticketing for transit systems in Boston, New York and Los Angeles.

Currently, Dempsey is the Director of the Transportation for Massachusetts advocacy coalition. He is a graduate of Brookline High School, Pomona College and Harvard Business School.

The speakers

Using the unique power of sport to bring people together, the Olympism in Action Forum saw a range of global players, including Olympic Movement stakeholders, athletes, private and public sector leaders, NGO representatives, academics, artists and the media come together to talk on topical contemporary issues. Chosen because of their ability to effect change and their wide range of sometimes differing opinions, the speakers led lively debates and seeked to challenge received wisdom to inspire new ways of thinking.