The Swiss Equestrian Federation (SEF) has named Pierre E. Genecand as a candidate for the FEI presidency and submitted the official candidacy to the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) today. The elections, at which, contrary to her original intention, the incumbent FEI president HRH Haya bint al-Hussein could make herself available for a third period of office, will take place in mid-December 2014 in Baku (Azerbaijan).
Sixty-four-year-old insurance broker Pierre E. Genecand, a successful businessman and the former owner of Gesrep AG, lives in Geneva and Buenos Aires (Argentina), and has been president of the Hublot Polo Gold Cup Gstaad, the most important Swiss polo tournament, for almost 20 years. He has been actively involved in the organisation of Swiss show-jumping events for more than 40 years, in the course of which he was president of the CHI Geneva for 15 years and a member of the Alliance of Jumping Organizers (AJO) from 1992 until 2003. Pierre Genecand also added to his extensive knowledge of organising major equestrian sport events by serving as a member of the organising committee of the 1998 World Equestrian Games in Rome and by performing central TV coordination tasks for the equestrian sport broadcasts for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.
Pierre Genecand speaks 5 languages fluently and has come to know equestrian sport in all its facets across the globe in the course of his extensive travels, he is currently the only candidate for the highest office in the FEI. He regards his prospects of election as undiminished despite broad support for Princess Haya: “There is still a long way to go before the elections, full of important milestones in our sport.”
As an independent president with no conflicting interests, he aims to bring a breath of fresh air to the many different areas of the FEI: in doing so he intends to increase the focus on the sport itself rather than on commercial interests, as well as on an increased media presence and in turn a greater recognition of equestrian sport among the general public. Looking after the interests of all national associations, irrespective of their size, is another central issue and of great importance for the future development and positioning of equestrian sport worldwide.
In addition, Pierre Genecand is striving to achieve better communication and collaboration between the FEI organs and stakeholders with a view to discussing and resolving important subjects for the benefit of sport – with a particular overriding goal: the well-being of horses.
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