Ingmar De Vos

Ingmar De Vos
13th President of the Fédération Equestre Internationale
Incumbent
Assumed office 14 December 2014
Preceded by	HRH Princess Haya
Personal details
Born	(1963-08-05) 5 August 1963
Nationality	Belgian
Spouse(s)	Sabine Cox
Children	Olivier, Philippe, Jacco and Flo

Ingmar De Vos (born 5 August 1963) is a Belgian professional sports manager serving as the thirteenth and current President of the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (Fédération Equestre Internationale) (FEI). Educated in sports management, business administration and international law, he began his career in mainstream politics before working for the Belgian Equestrian Federation and supported that nation's equestrian teams at the Olympics and the FEI World Equestrian Games. He was one of the founders of the European Equestrian Federation and became secretary-general of the FEI in 2011 prior to being elected President of the organization in 2014

Education and Early Career

Studying at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (V.U.B), De Vos began his university education gaining master's degrees in Political Science (department International Relations) and International and European Law. He also studied business administration and later went on to gain further degrees including Sports Management from the Belgian Olympic Academy.

Following completion of his Masters in International and European law, De Vos joined the Belgian Senate,^[1] as an advisor to the Liberal Group.

Equestrian organisation management career

Ingmar De Vos began his career within Equestrian Sports Management in 1990 at the Belgian Equestrian Federation,^[2][3] first taking on the role of Managing Director which was later combined with the Secretary General role.^[4] In his time at the Belgian Equestrian, De Vos was successful in modernising the organisation and administration including the restructuring of the organisation to allow the regional federations to receive government funding.

Alongside his core responsibilities as Managing Director and Secretary General, De Vos was also Head of the Belgian Equestrian Delegation at the Olympic Games from 2000-2008 in Sydney, Athens and Beijing as well as heading up the Belgian Delegation at the first five FEI World Equestrian Games between 1990 and 2010.

In 2010, Ingmar De Vos was one of the founders of the European Equestrian Federation and the first Secretary General of the organisation.^[2][3]

Fédération Equestre Internationale

Ingmar De Vos joined the FEI as Secretary General in 2011^[5] during the second presidential term of HRH Princess Haya. During his time as Secretary General he worked closely with HRH Princess Haya, implementing a number of reforms to improve lines of communication with the National Federations and stakeholders. One of the key steps in this process was the creation of the FEI Sports Forum in 2012^[6] to provide a platform for all stakeholders to discuss matters relating to the sport in an open and transparent manner.

He was also instrumental in the restructuring of FEI's Commercial strategy which subsequently resulted in the signing of the organisation's biggest commercial deal with the Swiss watchmakers, Longines.^[5][7][8][9]

Following the decision of FEI President HRH Princess Haya not to run for a third term,^[10][11] Ingmar De Vos stepped forward as one of six candidates. The Presidential election took place at the 2014 FEI General Assembly in Baku, Azerbaijan where De Vos was elected in the first round of voting. A total of 131 National Federations voted:^{[2][3][12][13][14][15][16]}

Note: The two other candidates, Ulf Helgstrand (DEN) and Javier Revuelta del Peral (ESP) withdrew from the election process prior to the vote.

Ingmar De Vos' Presidential manifesto^[17] focused on five main pillars: "Serving our community", "Sport: our core business", "Equestrian Sport in the Olympics", "FEI Solidarity" and "Horses as our Partners". These five pillars will serve as his blueprint for the four-year presidential term. De Vos' manifesto speech prior to his election can be seen here.^[18]

Thomas Bach, IOC President greeted by stallion Sarango during his visit to the FEI Headquarters on 4 November 2015

As FEI President, De Vos has been very active; he attended Australian Sport Achievement Awards Night in July 2015^[19][20] and in the same month visited the Bulgarian Federation Summer Camp supported by FEI Solidarity. Watch the FEI Reportage to learn more about the 4 pillars of FEI Solidary.^[21] On 7 December, an FEI delegation composed of Ingmar De Vos, Sabrina Ibáñez, FEI Secretary General, John Madden, FEI 1st Vice-President and Chair of the Jumping Committee and Frank Kemperman, Member of the Executive Board and Chair of the Dressage Committee were received at Al-Safriya Palace by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. De Vos presented him with the first FEI Decoration in recognition of King Hamad's pioneering role and dedicated efforts to promote the equestrian sport, preserve its heritage and support FEI governing body.^[22]

References

External links

• FEI.org
• FEITV.org
• FEI Database