From restructuring corporations and turning ailing businesses around to developing horse shows and equestrian lifestyle destinations, Mark Bellissimo feeds off challenge and drinks from the well of perseverance. Just the sort of guy to pull off history’s most successful World Equestrian Games?
When and how were you first introduced to equestrian sport?
My wife, Katherine, and our daughters, Paige and Nicole, took riding lessons at a local farm near our summer home in New Hampshire in 1996. Very quickly, they were riding a couple of times a week. Ponies and horses were purchased. Shortly thereafter, they started to show; local horse shows turned into regional shows. In 2000 we ended up in Wellington.
Have you followed their lead and become smitten with the bug?
I have a Quarter Horse called Easy that my wife and daughters bought me as a present. I really enjoy riding around the farm and the trails. I built a chute that goes from his paddock to a patio outside my office. I wake up early in the morning when it is dark and he will see my light on, come over and neigh outside my office until I come out and give him a treat. I have trained him to my whistle … if I am on the phone sitting outside the office, he will come and put his head on my lap until I give him a treat. He has become a big dog.
What does a typical work week look like for Mark Bellissimo?
There really isn’t a ‘typical’ week for me. I oversee a portfolio of diverse equestrian-related entities that include venues [Wellington, Tryon, and Colorado], a media company, the Chronicle of the Horse, a software company, and a series of real estate development projects. I still have some private equity investments from my previous life and sit on a number of boards. Recently, we started a manufacturing company called US Precision Construction, which utilizes robotics and automation to manufacture high-end modular structures that can be used for residential, retail, commercial, and hospitality projects.
Were sacrifices made along the way?
Quite the opposite; prior to “jumping” into the equestrian arena, I worked in a more typical work environment that quite frankly was boring from a relative perspective. Despite the opposition and challenges along the way, I am having a great time and I believe we are building a great long-term business and contributing to the development of an industry. Our partnership group has become great friends and I believe we share the vision for what can be for the industry that we all love.
How would your friends describe your character?
During a celebratory dinner on my behalf, a dear friend conveyed, “….great father, husband, respected boss, loyal friend that is always there in good times and bad, who is eager to take on a challenge with a high intensity effort, never discouraged by obstacles thrown in his path and a relentless, but principled pursuit and track record for successful outcomes.” I was honored by the comment.
If life hadn’t taken you where it has, what do you think you would be doing now?
I would be doing some form of private equity investment focused on business turnarounds or identifying undervalued assets. I like the challenge of creating value by taking under-performing assets and putting together a strategy to reenergize the business, building a good team, and working collaboratively to execute the strategy.
Where is your favourite place in the world?
Our summer home on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. Our property overlooks the mountains, but is on a great stretch of beach, so there is a lot to do. It is amazing family time for us, even as all of our four children have grown up, because it is also their favorite place. There are great family dinners, sunsets, and memories. Not many distractions; it is the one place where I can truly relax.
Where would you most like to go that you haven’t been?
I would like to go on an African safari with the family.
Where did you last go on vacation?
Apart from NH, we went to the Italian and French Mediterranean coast this past summer. Italy is my second place to go. Love the people, the setting, and the food.
How does Mark Bellissimo stay fit?
I try to work out at least five times a week utilizing a combination of both strength and aerobic exercise.
What’s your guilty pleasure?
Ice cream!
If you had a life lesson to share, what would it be?
I wrote this for an open letter a few years back:
“Change is extremely hard for most people, especially those people who are vested in what they know, feel and touch. Add a level of uncertainty in the outcome of that change, and it creates fear. That fear then evolves into resistance and criticism of the unknown and then criticism of the individuals who are pursuing the change.
This is true for most exploration and invention in history. The fact is, visions do not come with majority support, and the execution of the vision is filled with setbacks in the form of mistakes, failures, and shortcomings that provide fodder for the critics. In response to these setbacks and critics, you can either quit, adapt, or get stronger, smarter, and overcome. If the critics prevail, the status quo prevails, and the corresponding change and opportunities die. You will never know what could have been.
Your willingness to persevere directly correlates to your fundamental belief in the outcome, your resources and your team, because the ultimate fact is, critics do not write great novels, produce great movies, build great buildings, invent cures, lead companies, build products, or change society. They criticize. Criticism is important to improve a process, but it should not be the lasting legacy.”
If a genie gave you three wishes, what would you wish for?
Without qualification, I would probably ask for endless wishes! But in all seriousness, I would have one very specific wish come true. On June 18th, 2038, I would love to have a family dinner celebrating my 50th wedding anniversary with my wife Katherine, with all of my four children, Matthew, Paige, Nicole, and Michael, and grandchildren (to be named later), who are all happy and healthy, at our summer home in New Hampshire. Obviously, the single wish is an economy of wishes embedded into a very desirable single outcome.
If you were having a dinner party and could choose four guests, living or dead, who would you invite?
Winston Churchill, Walt Disney, Abraham Lincoln, and Steve Jobs. All greatly contributed to the world in which we live in profound ways despite enduring great obstacles which they overcame with great success, and their perseverance has made the world a better place in very different ways. I am confident it would be an interesting cross-generational conversation. I am sure I would learn a lot.
There needs to be more productive collaboration between the top riders, event organizers, and the governing bodies in an effort to create athlete and horse “personalities” in the sport and a more engaging and marketable product that attracts media interest and corresponding sponsorship.
The Bellissimo Strategy
In a given year in the US, there are 8 million people who ski, 23 million people who pick up a tennis racquet, 25 million who golf, and 27 million people who will ride a horse. There is a great passion for horses and horse sport, but for many, it is considered a fringe, elitist, inaccessible activity from a sport, leisure, and commercial perspective.
Horse sport in the US (despite being the world’s largest economy) has not reached its potential in terms of competitor participation, sponsorship, and spectatorship. It is far behind Europe and other countries in this regard. This is the result of a number of factors:
• the large number of sporting alternatives in the US;
• urbanization, which has converted horse farms into subdivisions and makes access to entry-level riding programs less accessible;
• participation in the sport is expensive relative to other sporting options;
• many show facilities are located in remote areas with limited spectator options and organizers have little incentive to promote spectatorship as shows generate their primary income from the competitors;
• competition formats can be confusing;
• the lack of developed rider personalities;
• the formal attire of the athletes;
• limited participation and spectatorship in the sport which limits the viability of TV and corresponding media impressions which are critical to generating corporate sponsorship interest – the core driver for true commercial sports.
These factors have created a scenario where to succeed you have to be independently wealthy, have a strong owner, or be extremely productive in horse acquisition and sales as a trainer to survive in the top level of the sport. Currently, very few equestrian athletes in the US can generate their primary income through prize money winnings.
Sports such as skiing, tennis, golf, and even car racing went through transitions from hobbies to professions in the US through aggressive efforts to commercialize the sport. Most often, that transition comes as a result of executing five steps:
• structuring the event to ensure a high level of spectator interest;
• aggressive promotion of the sport to the target market;
• increased media coverage;
• developing strong sponsorship relationships;
• developing a financial model so that the athletes and organizers can both make money.
The critical economic driver for the success of US sport is sponsorship. Without a strong sponsorship model there’s no meaningful top sport in this country, and there’s no financial model for the riders. Also, there needs to be more productive collaboration between the top riders, event organizers, and the governing bodies in an effort to create athlete and horse “personalities” in the sport and a more engaging and marketable product that attracts media interest and corresponding sponsorship.
There is no silver bullet that will happen overnight; the transformation of horse sport will take well over 10 years. Organizations need to have great patience and capital to shepherd this transformation along. In essence, as an organization, we are embracing the five-step strategy mentioned above. The venues (PBIEC, TIEC, and Colorado) and the events (Central Park Horse Show) we are creating are generating significant spectator and sponsorship interest. We have one of the largest sponsor portfolios in the world with diverse brands like Rolex, Coca Cola, Land Rover, BMW, Bank of America, Fidelity, Hermes, etc.
We believe that Tryon International Equestrian Center is the first equestrian venue that is a dedicated platform to grow the sport across all dimensions (sport, entertainment, lifestyle, and commercial). If we are given the opportunity to do the WEG, I believe we can present the sport unlike any other in its history and change the trajectory of horse sport in this county.
