(Lexington, KY) -- The United States Equestrian Federation announced today that it is implementing an organizational realignment that divides the Federation's activities into two primary areas - sport programs and business administration/governance.

The organizational realignment of sports programs will better integrate staff assignments for both national and high performance programs. The management of the International Department in the Lexington, Kentucky office will be eliminated, streamlining the staff and administration formerly required by dual functions in both Lexington and Gladstone. Jim Wolf is now the Executive Director – Sports Programs reporting directly to Chief Executive Officer John Long. In his new position Jim will have responsibility for all sports programs within the USEF. Karen Homer Brown, AED of National Sports Programs in the Lexington headquarters will now report to Jim.

Show Jumping, Eventing and Dressage will each have a discipline director who will oversee all aspects of the sport Each will have a national sports manager and a high performance manager as direct reports. The Paralympics Liaison will also report directly to Jim Wolf.

The remaining four FEI disciplines will be coordinated within a new department headed by Don Whittle who joins the USEF from the United States Olympic Committee. As Director of FEI Disciplines and Games Preparation, Don will also have responsibility for FEI servicing and will underpin Jim Wolf in games preparation.

Don has an extensive background in sports management which includes positions with the USOC, U.S Canoe and Kayak, and USA Track and Field. For the USOC he served in multiple capacities as Manager of International and Collegiate Affairs; Sports Partnerships where he was a facilitator to six Olympic sports including funding support on and off the field of play; and he managed athlete housing, logistics, and travel at four Olympic Games. Don is a graduate of the University of Arizona and has a certificate in Sports Management from St. John’s University in New York.

This realignment puts all sports programs within one part of the organization while still maintaining the unique requirements of the national and high performance programs. Both the national and high performance programs will be better served. An additional benefit is the creation of a pipeline for USEF staff career advancement opportunities and a pipeline for emerging new athletic talent for the elite teams.

On the business and governance side, Lori Rawls will continue to direct Administration, Finance, Member Services, Competition, Regulation, and Drugs and Medication programs as Executive Director at the Lexington headquarters, also reporting directly to John Long. These changes allow Lori to concentrate on administration and member services, which are particularly important as we move forward with the new competition license initiative which requires significant changes in existing administration procedures and processes.

Maria Partlow, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communication and Julie Goodman, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, will also continue reporting to John Long.

As stated by John Long at the annual meeting in January, the goals of this re-organization are to reduce overlap, provide more focus on disciplines from top to bottom, and to build a pipeline of talent.


ENDS
For more information, please contact Maria Partlow, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications on (859) 225-6941 or via email at [email protected].


~~~For more information, please contact Sarah Lane, Public Relations Manager at (859) 225-6974 or via email at [email protected]. USEF press releases are available on our web site – www.usef.org.