Terrence Burns—President
Terrence is the President of Helios Partners, Inc., and has a long history in Olympic marketing and communications as a sponsor, as an agent for the IOC, and as an Olympic consultant with his own agency. At Helios, Burns has worked with clients as varied as the Australian Soccer Association, Telus Telecommunications in Vancouver and Nissin Foods in Tokyo. As an Olympic sponsor, Burns was responsible for the planning and implementation of Delta Air Lines’ sponsorship of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Prior to his Olympic duties, during his fifteen years at Delta Burns served in various international sales and marketing positions for the airline, including duties in Frankfurt, Germany and Moscow, Russia.
Based on Delta’s Olympic success, Burns was recruited by the IOC in 1996 to assist in the creation of Meridian Management, SA – the IOC’s marketing agency. Burns served as Meridian’s Senior Vice President – Marketing and Sponsor Servicing. In this role, he was responsible for a team of Group Managers who managed the day-to-day marketing relationships with the IOC’s then-eleven TOP Partners. While at Meridian, Burns also spearheaded the first-ever global assessment of the Olympic Brand in 1998. The work is still the basis for brand communication within the Olympic Movement. Burns also led the direction and creation of the IOC’s first brand image campaign, “Celebrate Humanity” in 1999-2000.
Along with partner George Hirthler, Burns created Helikon Media in the year 2000. Helikon was a brand communications agency focused on the Olympic Movement. Helikon was the chief communications strategist for the successful Beijing 2008 and Vancouver 2010 bids, helping the cities orchestrate winning campaigns for the Games. Helikon also provided brand assessment, sponsorship and communications consulting for other sporting clients such as the Australian Rugby Union, USA Rugby and USA Equestrian.
Burns left Helikon in 2003 to take the position of Managing Director of Consumer Communications for NASCAR, the fastest growing professional sport in the USA. Burns is a graduate of Emory University (BBA) and Georgia State University (MBA) in Atlanta, Georgia.