JTA is to open a new subsidiary JTA Pacific in Los Angeles ©JTA

Leading international relations and communications consultancy JTA are to set up an office in Los Angeles to help the British company to service its account to provide help for the city's bid to host the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics.

JTA Pacific will be a  wholly-owned subsidiary in Los Angeles and will be run by Alex Corp.

He will move from JTA, where he was senior consultant responsible for strategic planning, to take up the role of managing director for the new company.

Corp will be assisted by Young-Sook Lee, who, as international relations director, will be focusing primarily on generating new business around the major events taking place in the Asia-Pacific region in the coming years.

Lee is well known within the Olympic Movement and has worked on several successful bids, including Pyeongchang 2018 and Tokyo 2020.

Fluent in English, Japanese, Korean and Spanish, Lee also supported New York City's unsuccessful bid for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and America's 2022 World Cup bid, controversially beaten by Qatar.

She has also provided international relations and protocol services to the US Soccer Federation. 

In the last three years, JTA has achieved a 120 per centincrease in annual turnover to nearly $4 million (£3 million/€3.5 million), with a portfolio of clients from inside and outside the Olympic Movement, including Discovery Communications, Manchester United, Generations For Peace, the International Volleyball Federation, as well as Los Angeles 2024.

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Jon Tibbs is excited about the expansion of his firm JTA into North America ©YouTube

“JTA has exceeded its revenue targets and delivered record turnover in each of the last three years, so now is the right time to capitalise on that momentum," Jon Tibbs, the chairman of JTA and President of JTA Pacific, said.

"We have set up JTA Pacific with a view to establishing a sustainable, long-term presence in the market.

"There is a tangible need in the region for international relations and communications advice from consultants who live and breathe the Olympic Movement every day.

"JTA Pacific – backed up by the collective knowledge and resources of the JTA group - will look to address that need.”

Corp and Lee will work closely with Los Angeles 2024 on their bid, which is facing opposition from Budapest, Paris and Rome.

The International Olympic Committee is due to choose the host city at its Session in Lima in 2017. 

"The US sports industry is sophisticated and competitive, but JTA Pacific brings something different and compelling to the table," said Corp.

"Our primary objective will be supporting the Los Angeles bid for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

"Above and beyond that, there is scope for us to add real value to this market.”