Conservative Party names former PMO spokesperson as new executive director

Dimitri Soudas leaves Parliament Hill in Ottawa Wednesday June 1, 2011. (Adrian Wyld / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Dimitri Soudas, the former spokesperson for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, is the new Conservative Party’s executive director.

The party’s national council confirmed his new position Friday evening.

Sources told CTV’s Robert Fife that Harper personally asked Dimitri Soudas to take over the party’s operations.

Just Thursday, the Canadian Olympic Committee said Soudas was leaving his post as the executive director of communications, two months before the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Soudas joined the Prime Minister’s Office as a press secretary in 2006, and was appointed as the director of communications in 2010.

He then joined the COC on Sept. 28, 2011, and was with the team for the 2012 London Olympics.

In an email to The Canadian Press, the COC thanked Soudas for his work with athletes and coaches.

Simon Whitfield, a two-time medallist in triathlon, congratulated Soudas on Twitter.

"Congratulations Dimitri. Enjoyed working with you in London," Whitfield wrote. "All the best to you and your family. #superpro."

Wtih files from The Canadian Press