Dressage-News

LEXINGTON, Kentucky, July 20, 2016–The U.S. Equestrian Federation has appointed a chief compliance officer that Chief Executive Bill Moroney announced Wednesday will seek to insure competition standards and internal procedures are met.

The appointment of Matt Fine as chief of the new department came as a result of a strategic plan presented to the USEF board by President-Elect Murray Kessler who officially takes over next January.

Matt Fine has been USEF senior director of competition operations with oversight of the competitions and licensed officials departments for the past year. From 2009-2011, he worked on special projects at the USEF while as a volunteer he served as a member of the USEF Hearing Committee and on the USEF Safe Sport Task Force. He has been in Pony Club, was a Young Rider and competed through the 1* level in eventing.

Matt worked as a criminal defense attorney and is an officer in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps in the U.S. Army Reserve.

The short term focus, he said, is to develop policies and procedures to create a fair and transparent competition inspection program and hiring full-time competition inspectors.

“Although there will be an enforcement element to the department in the future,” he said, “the focus now, and always, will be engaging collaboratively with our members, officials, competition organizers and affiliates. We all have a collective interest in ensuring that our competitions are conducted within USEF rules and in a spirit consistent with the mission and vision of the organization.”