Equestrian Canada (EC) is pleased to announce that James Hood has joined the team in the position of High Performance Director, effective Jan. 8, 2020.
Hood has an extensive and successful track record in sport organizations, specializing in providing strategic leadership with a focus on high performance and sport development. He has served in various roles within Swimming Canada and Swim Alberta, where he supported high performance planning and leadership, including aligning sport systems from grassroots to high performance, and engaging a wide range of stakeholders, including coaches, integrated support teams, provincial partners and volunteers. Most recently he has been the Vice President Sports Markets with joe:media group of Calgary, AB, supporting sport organizations with both broadcast and video production.
Known for his strong ability to develop and enhance relationships with external sport systems and business stakeholders, Hood also excels at building teams and fostering teamwork. Well versed in single-sport and multi-sport major games, he has developed expertise in areas from logistics to team management to broadcasting.
Hood’s career highlights include taking on the role of Head Coach for the 1992 Barcelona Paralympics, Team Manager for the 2012 London Olympics and Team Leader for the 2016 Rio Paralympics. He has also performed as a Technical Delegate, Official or Classifier at more than seven major games, including the Paralympics, Pan Am and Parapan Am Games, and FISU World University Championships. In addition, Hood has been inducted into the Ontario Aquatic Hall of Fame and the Alberta Swimming Hall of Fame in the Builder category, and is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.
As the EC High Performance Director, Hood will be responsible for implementing EC’s high performance vision, strategies and policies. Key elements of the role include leadership and alignment of stakeholders toward high performance initiatives.
“I am excited to be joining EC with such a long and decorated history of performance, and look forward to having the opportunity to apply my passion for sport to the equestrian landscape,” said Hood. “My goal is to create a platform and environment that supports equestrian athletes and coaches in consistently delivering world-class performances and achieving success at the elite international level.”
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