Horse Sport Ireland, the governing body for equestrian sport in Ireland, announced that Joe Reynolds is to remain as interim CEO of Horse Sport Ireland for the year ahead.

Joe Reynolds took up the role in September 2020 and along with overseeing the day-to-day running of the organisation since then, he was the driving force behind the Show Jumping Masters which was broadcast live on RTE television just before Christmas.

Speaking after the announcement, Horse Sport Ireland chairperson Professor Mary Lambkin-Coyle said:

“The board of HSI feel that it is important to have stability right now to enable us to deal with the very demanding conditions our industry is facing as a result of the combined challenges of Covid, Brexit, and the Olympics. We are also in the middle of an ambitious project to create a National Training Centre for the industry at Greenogue Equestrian and it is essential to keep the momentum going to deliver this successfully.

“Joe Reynolds is doing an exceptional job as interim CEO in managing all of these demands and we feel that we are best served by keeping him in this role through this year, at least until after the Olympics.  Thankfully, he is willing to do so and we believe that this is the best course of action right now.

We look forward to welcoming a new, permanent CEO towards the latter part of the year and we will look to that appointee to lead the industry forward and to deliver the next stage of our ambitious strategic plan.”

Joe Reynolds added:

“I am delighted to accept this offer to remain with HSI as interim CEO.  I am not the long-term solution for this role but I have enjoyed each day of my work since I took over in September.  This is such a huge industry with a wide variety of activities and there is a lot of scope for further improvements in terms of developing the industry.  I am really excited about what we can achieve over the coming months.”