USEA Convention Program

27 convention speakers DIARMUID BYRNE Diarmuid Byrne qualified as a corporate lawyer with Arthur Cox, working across a number of practice areas, including capital markets and corporate transactions. The growth of the sports data market worldwide led him to co-found EquiRatings with Sam Watson in 2015. He has been nominated for and won numerous awards for his role as director of EquiRatings and was shortlisted as Ireland's Best Young Entrepreneur in 2015. As an EquiRatings analyst, Diarmuid has been part of the commentar y team at major equestrian events around the world. GENA CINDRIC Gena's love for horses started at a young age in Mar yland where she grew up competing in hunter shows. She is most proud of her two girls who have inherited her love of horses and have been involved in eventing for the past 10 years. After volunteering for years at horse trials, she now happily works in a field she is passionate about . . . eventing with The Mar yland Horse Trials! One of the hats she wears at MDHT is Volunteer Coordinator. In the past year and a half, Gena has worked closely with Nicolas Hinze on developing the eventingvolunteers.com system/app so that volunteers get the credit they deser ve! As we all know, eventing doesn't happen without volunteers! TREMAINE COOPER Tremaine grew up on a farm in Bethany, Conn., and started riding when he was 5 years old. He is a graduate 'A' Pony Clubber and started eventing in 1984. Tremaine has ridden through the CCI3* level, and currently rides and competes when he has the time. At an early age, Tremaine started helping out with the cross-countr y courses at his parents' farm. At the end of high school and through college he started building seriously and ended up constructing courses throughout the US, the UK and NZ. Tremaine has since then focused more on design, earning his FEI 3*/4* license almost 15 years ago. He now designs at some of the premier equestrian sites around the countr y including Mor ven Park, Millbrook, The Fork, Aspen Farms, Poplar Place and many others. Tremaine is also one of the three national USEF Course Advisors, is involved in the educational design seminars for both the USEA and the FEI, is co-chairman of the Course Designers/ Builders Committee, and sits on the USEA Board of Governors. He currently lives in Bluemont, Va. with his family. MARY D'ARCY For more than 35 years, Mar y D'Arcy has coached riders for competitions all over the world. She was the Irish Eventing Team Coach for the Olympic Games in Sydney and Athens, as well as for European Championships and the World Equestrian Games. She has coached individual riders at all the major international events including the Atlanta Olympic Games. Mar y coached the Irish Young Rider Three-Day Event Team to the gold medal at the European Three- Day Event Championship in Germany in 1995. A native of Dublin, Ireland, Mar y enrolled in a local riding school at the age of 10 and became an active participant in Pony Club. She later competed successfully for many years in eventing, show jumping and dressage. She obtained her equestrian teaching qualifications as a protégé of European Show Jumping Champion Iris Kellett, and became a British Horse Society Instructor. To further her education, she studied regularly with top- class trainers in Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Great Britain. She was a member of the original committee to implement a national equestrian coaching structure in Ireland. As a senior examiner for the British Horse Society, and now a USEA ICP Level IV Certified Instructor, she has been

• Cover