What a clusterf–k. 
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Also Eric Markell is an owner. He’s one of the owners of Mai Baum at least (& maybe some of Tamie’s other horses?) along with Alex & Ellen Ahearn.
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Shared would not imply one way communication in the context of the sentence used by USEF. See above. 
Not just an owner, but a big breeder for US Eventing.
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PETA is a cancer, but it does concern me how commonplace animal rights stances have become among the general public, usually by people who don’t realize the implication of what they’re advocating for.
People saying equestrian sports should be banned and “animals should not be used for human entertainment!” … meanwhile they’re slapping a bogus “emotional support animal” vest on their French bulldog and carrying it along on a cross-country flight for their vacation like it’s a teddy bear.
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Have you guys seen the job description for the managing director of US Eventing position?
That seems like a crazy amount for one person to be responsible for.
Oof.
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And this bit is interesting:
Experience in the equestrian sport industry or related field preferred.
Not required.
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I liked the bit about succession planning.
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It’s basically a managerial/executive position, when you get right down to it. It’s normal in sports organizations to have people in those positions with no previous affiliation or relation to the sport in question. That’s also how USA Gymnastics (and the pile of bizarre affiliate organizations with similar names) ended up with a bunch of seemingly rando men and women calling the shots and letting Larry Nasser (and others) do as they please.
Also, just above it, is the requirement that the applicant have knowledge of Equestrian sports and Eventing, so whoever wrote it didn’t pay much attention or it was a bad copy-paste job shared between two or more people. 
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That’s what EC did for our CEO and it’s ended horribly every single time.
You can’t manage an Eventing team without being well versed imo.
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Always a good sign when they advertise high turnover in the job description.
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I think that means that if they can’t find a qualified individual, they will take the next best thing.
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I hope that USEF is willing to pay through the nose for someone to take this position. They seem to be feeling flush, having their convention in Naples Fla. so they shouldn’t claim budget restrictions.
Somehow I wonder if USEF will pay a decent salary since they want their applicant to “relocate at their own expense.” They want a budget producer, someone knowledgeable about developing and managing grants, a super communicator, a resolver of conflict, etc… and they “prefer” that the applicant have a “high school education or equivalency” or “some college.”
I found the requirement that the applicant be able to “lead from the front, or when appropriate, lead from behind”, quite telling. The entire job description reads as an you-are-doing-the-work-and-we-will-be-making-the-decisions situation.
So, this is not an high performance director position after all. The applicant will be responsible " to oversee all levels of eventing."
The misuse of the word “grow”… 
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I read this job description and am frankly puzzled by the thought process of those who wrote and approved it. “Duties and Responsibilities” strikes me as a (six figure, maybe?) executive level position, and “Required, [sic] Knowledge, Skills & Abilities” describes someone who has managed and led a major organization to at least a high mid-management, if not UL, management and leadership position. Not to mention, these two sections go on for some time outlining all that this person is expected do, and be capable of doing. OK. Big task/ask for the right person, though I really wonder how one individual would manage such a broad portfolio of responsibilities.
Then I came to the “Education and Experience” and was momentarily stunned. Seriously? Someone with the minimally listed qualifications capable of doing all the above?
Reminds me of the notorious ISO ads discussed on other threads, in an HR (human) context. I’m very curious what salary is being considered. And to top it off, it seems the applicant will need relocate at their own expense. (Might be a fun new angle for the ISO adds - proven unicorn, low fours, seller responsible for shipping to buyer)
Possibly, an industry experienced - not necessarily equine - financially secure retiree (who may have kids who compete) may take this on because they’re interested in helping/furthering the sport, and aren’t deterred at taking on significant responsibility for possibly very little money relative to the requirements. I’m thinking of a Murray Kessler type. But based on requirements, they don’t seem terribly picky. In the interest of the eventing community, pro and ammie and all the rest, I hope it works out.
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I had the same reaction. The description just doesn’t make sense. I wonder if they already have a specific individual in mind for the position and wrote the advertisement to mirror that person’s qualifications.
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writing the ad to suit a particular candidate is not an unusual ploy.
the education part leans me towards a talented rider who never went beyond high school but developed their pro rider career most effectively.
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I can’t imagine a single UL rider who would be ideal for the actual job description listed. A lot of that is management/business stuff that one would think you would need a lot of experience to do.
The whole thing is bizarre.
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After posting, I had this very thought. I’ve seen it happen several times. But in this case it doesn’t seem to add up. There would be a much more specific list of prior experience required, IMO, to effectively demonstrate that the person hired was best qualified.
Like watching a TV series, I’ll just have to wait for future episodes to see what happens next.
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In all seriousness… to the group at large… WHAT existing positions in the world would prepare you as “qualified” for this monster of a job?
Em
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