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John Long:
John Long has been directly involved in the equine industry for over 20 years. For four years, Mr. Long served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Churchill Downs, Inc. He oversaw the management, operations, and planning for all of the company's racetracks and simulcast facilities. Prior to his tenure at Churchill Downs, Inc., he spent ten years as President and Chief Operating Officer of Ladbroke/USA, one of the largest pari-mutuel operators in the country during the 90's. From settling union disputes to equine medication policies to legislative affairs, Mr. Long has served on the front line, dealing directly with many constituencies in the equine industry.
In December of 2003, Mr. Long became the first Chief Executive Officer of the United States Equestrian Federation, Inc., which is the national governing body for equestrian sport in the U.S. The USEF was officially formed that same month when the former United States Equestrian Team and USA Equestrian joined together with the purpose of becoming one strong national voice for equestrian sport. The USEF supports a membership of over 95,000, ranging from children with their first pony in their own backyard to the training and selection of our Olympic equestrian teams. Twenty-eight breeds and disciplines are represented in the Federation and annually participate in more than 2600 USEF-recognized horse shows in the United States and in high performance international competitions, including the Olympic Games, the Pan American Games and World Cup competitions.
Internationally, Mr. Long serves as Secretary General to the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) which is the international equestrian federation. Mr. Long was appointed in 2007 Chairman of the newly created Nominations Committee. In 2009, he was appointed to serve on the FEI's Structure Steering Group in order to assist with planning to restructure its governance.
Mr. Long serves as Chairman of the World Games 2010 Foundation Board of Directors developed for the planning process for the FEI World Equestrian Games to be held in Lexington, Kentucky in 2010.