High Performance Director Leaves EC

After just one year as Equine Canada’s Director of High Performance, Amie O’Shaughnessy has left the organization.

O’Shaughnessy started with EC over 16 years ago, gaining a wealth of experience managing and directing EC programs within five disciplines. A career highlight, in her role as Director of Para-Equestrian, O’Shaughnessy increased funding for the Paralympic program by more than $4 million, and developed strategic and operational plans, which resulted in the Canadian Para-Equestrian Team becoming one of the fastest growing and most successful Para-Sport programs in the world. Under her leadership, Canada’s Para-Equestrian Team has attended over 25 international events, and brought home medals from the Paralympic Games and the World Championships.

EC Chief Executive Officer, Eva Havaris, praised O’Shaughnessy’s work ethic when she was appointed to the position on March 30, 2015, saying, “Amie has a proven record of success directing equestrian sport programs as a result of her strong ability to build and execute plans. She exemplifies an unwavering commitment to excellence for Canadian equestrian sport with an unparalleled focus on building a high performance support system around our athletes in order for them to perform and achieve to the best of their abilities.”

Following the announcement of O’Shaughnessy’s departure, Hararis said, “We are sorry to lose Amie’s work ethic. She has made a huge contribution in her time here… We thank her for commitment to the organization over the past 16 years and wish her success in her new endeavours.”

EC has not announced who will replace O’Shaughnessy in this vital role, the duties of which include:

Working closely with key stakeholders, including owners and athletes, to proactively develop best practice plans that enable wider success across all disciplines at future major games.
Guiding EC’s high performance programming and spearheading integration, enhancement, and alignment of policies, programs, and services that provide best in class experience for Canada’s high performance equestrian sport community.
Overseeing the sourcing and securement of Canadian Equestrian Team (CET) sponsorship funds.
Crafting a global high performance vision and implementing it through a long-term strategy created through team building with cross-functional groups.

“The role of Director, High Performance is critical to the organization and we will be commencing a search for a replacement using a search firm to ensure we get the best possible candidate,” said Havaris. “We will keep you posted when the role has been filled.

“As we head into Rio, please rest assured that our logistics planning and team preparations for the Games are well in hand with the management team in the High Performance department and the technical leads of each of the Olympic and Paralympic disciplines.”