Equestrian Canada Board Resignations Continue

The mass exodus from the Equestrian Canada (EC) Board of Directors continues.

Frédéric Pierrestiger, a lawyer who hails from Quebec and is a TREC coach and competitor, joined the Board only last year and his term wasn't due to end until 2019.

This now makes an unprecedented total of four EC Directors who have resigned within the past four weeks. That is a staggering one-third of the Board. 

Pierrestiger's biography on the EC website stated his goals as helping EC reach its full potential in the areas of organizational development, strategic planning, governance, legal matters, media and government relations.

While in his role as EC Board Director, Pierrestiger was also chair of the Audit Committee whose stated mandate is:

"...fulfilling its oversight responsibilities for the financial reporting process, the system of internal control over financial reports, the audit process and the processes for identifying, evaluating and managing Equine Canada’s principal risks  impacting financial reporting. The overall role  of this Committee is to analyze risks that may materially impact Equine Canada’s financial  performance, its information systems and its compliance with the bylaws. " EC Governance Policy Manual

Below is the press release issued today from Equestrian Canada. 

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On Feb. 10, 2017, Frédéric Pierrestiger announced his resignation as a member of the Equestrian Canada (EC) Board of Directors.

Frédéric joined the EC Board in April 2016, making valuable contributions to the Federation as a Board member and as Chair of the Audit Committee.

Bringing a fresh and insightful perspective to the Board table, Frédéric strongly believed in representing the interests of the entire equestrian community and recognized that while high performance sport requires a great deal of attention from EC, there are many thousands of people practicing equestrianism across the country on a local and more discreet level with the same passion and drive that motivates full-time professional athletes. Frédéric’s ethos as a Board member was that every member of the community deserves the same time and attention from Board, and that the grassroots represents the future of our equestrian disciplines and the broader segment of our community.

In his letter of resignation, Frédéric expressed the following statement, which is strongly endorsed by all Directors on the EC Board, as well as the senior management team:

I sincerely hope that good common and conciliatory sense will prevail, and that the present situation will find a positive resolution for the entire Canadian equestrian community.

“Frédéric will continue contributing to the equestrian community and supporting all equestrians, but unfortunately not within the EC Board,” said EC President, Jorge Bernhard. “He leaves us the strong message that the future of a successful EC hinges as much with our local pony riders as it does with our hard-working, top-level riders with Olympic aspirations.”

EC sincerely thanks Frédéric for his invaluable contributions to EC’s Board of Directors and the Federation as a whole.