From the USEF Communications Departmen
Lexington, KY - The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) will host a Forum on March 10th, 2011 for Eventing Long Listed Athletes* to hear directly from the short-listed applicants for the position of Eventing Chef d'Equipe/Technical Advisor beginning in 2013. The two short-listed candidates recommended by the Search Committee are Leslie Law and David O'Connor.
The process to select a new Chef d'Equipe/Technical Advisor for Eventing has been underway since the summer of 2010. In August of last year, the USEF opened up the application process.
Two open rider meetings were held, one at the Rolex Kentucky CCI4* in April of 2009 and one in October of 2009 at Fair Hill International CCI3*, where athletes participated in outlining the process, the timeline and the job description.
Two open forums were held during 2010 to further engage athletes and stakeholders. These forums provided information and sought input on the process and job description and afforded eventing athletes the opportunity to weigh in on what they wanted in their next Chef d'Equipe. The forums were held at the 2010 Land Rover/USEA American Eventing Championships in Georgia in September and at the 2010 USEA Annual Meeting in Arizona in December.
The job description, timeline and application have been posted on the USEF website since August 2010 and are available here:
http://www.usef.org/_IFrames/breedsdisciplines/discipline/alleventing/hpeventing.aspx
Throughout the process, consistent priorities were emphasized by the Search Committee, including the athlete representatives. This Committee determined that the successful candidate would have:
· Residency in the United States year round, or indicate they would relocate.
· The ability to ride and /or demonstrate in the saddle.
· Leadership and excellent communications skills.
Using these criteria and the job description, the members of the USEF Search Committee conducted six interviews after reviewing nine submissions. Applicants who publicly announced their interest in the position were (alphabetically): Robert Costello and Phillip Dutton (joint application), Andrew Hoy, Leslie Law, David O'Connor and Jimmy Wofford.
As a result of those interviews, Law and O'Connor were named to the short-list.
The Long Listed Athletes will now have the chance to meet face-to-face with the short-listed candidates in an Open Forum at 1pm EST on Thursday March 10, in the Sponsors Tent at the Red Hills Horse Trials in Tallahassee, FL.
Following this meeting, the Search Committee will provide its recommendation to the Eventing Eligible Athlete Committee and the Eventing High Performance Committee. The Eventing Eligible Athlete Committee will make their recommendation to the Eventing High Performance Committee. The High Performance Committee will then make a recommendation to the High Performance Working Group, who will put the final name forward to the Executive Committee.
Long Listed Eventing Athletes are encouraged to attend the meeting at Red Hills in person; interested athletes that cannot attend should take advantage of the electronic invitation to attend via conference call.
If you are a Long Listed Eventing Athlete and have not received this invitation by email by Thursday morning, please contact Sara Ike at
sara.ike@usef.org for the information.
Furthermore, if you have questions for the candidates and cannot participate, please email them to Search Committee chairman, Eric Straus, at
ericlstraus@gmail.com.
*An Eventing Long Listed Athlete is an eventing rider who has ridden at the CCI2* level or above in the last two years and achieved a qualifying result.
The USEF Search Committee for Eventing Chef d'Equipe/Technical Advisor:
Eric Straus, Chair
Kevin Freeman
Mike Huber
George Morris
Katie Prudent
Amy Tryon
Kim Severson
The USEF Eventing Eligible Athletes Committee:
Amy Tryon, Chair
Phillip Dutton, Vice-Chair
Stephen Bradley
Jan Byyny
Buck Davidson
Lauren Hart O'Brien
Becky Holder
Marcia Kulak
Bonnie Mosser
Karen O'Connor
Kim Severson
Phillip Dutton and Karen O'Connor recused themselves from these proceedings based on conflict of interest.
The USEF High Performance Eventing Committee:
Robert Costello, Chair
Jane Atkinson
Derek DiGrazia
Phillip Dutton
Roger Haller
Karen O'Connor
Marilyn Payne
Kim Severson
Amy Tryon
Jo Whitehouse
Phillip Dutton, Robert Costello and Karen O'Connor recused themselves from these proceedings based on conflict of interest.
