A past Cosequin Winter Equestrian Festival circuit champion in Show Jumping trained by Rodney Jenkins, James left the American Red Cross and began serving the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Foundation (TAA) in November 2013.
Since that time, he has worked to steward and grow the base of support responsible for awarding $1,000,000 in grants last December to TAA’s first 23 accredited organizations, delivering direct care to approximately 1,200 Thoroughbreds at 80 farms across the U.S. and Canada. He and a team of TAA volunteers are currently reviewing another 29 applications submitted in 2014.
James was first introduced to a couple of individuals involved with TAA while developing a $7,000,000 equine rehabilitation center for the State University of New York (SUNY), where he was a vice president of institutional advancement. He moved from NY to KY immediately after being offered the chance to manage TAA because while growing up as a competitive Show Jumper, his favorite horses were Thoroughbreds. James and his sister Elizabeth retrained several retired racehorses over the years and his first Grand Prix horse was an off-the-track Thoroughbred named James Bond.
He is uniquely qualified to work with TAA’s volunteer board and its accredited aftercare partners because of his experience as both a horseman and a nonprofit leader, beginning his professional career as director of communications for the United States Equestrian Team. In addition to his humanitarian work and experience in higher education, James was head of development for North America’s first-ever world cup in the sport of rowing, the 2001 Zurich Rowing World Cup.
Prior to moving to Lexington, James had visited the KY Horse Park several times for horse shows and U.S. Pony Club championships. A lifetime member of USPC, James began as a volunteer coach in 1991, served as vice regional supervisor for Western NY and one of his students finished third in equitation finals at the 2007 USPC Championships, on a retired racehorse named Farmer Jo.
