Hank Zeitlin, president and chief operating officer of Equibase Company since April 2007, will step down beginning Feb. 29, announced Ian D. Highet, chairman of the Equibase Management Committee and secretary-treasurer of The Jockey Club Friday. Equibase hopes to name a replacement for Zeitlin during the first quarter of 2016.
“Over the course of the past 25 years, Equibase has introduced a wide variety of products and services to help grow the sport of Thoroughbred racing, and Hank Zeitlin has played a major role in the creation and distribution of virtually all of them,” Highet said. “We are immensely grateful for all of his contributions and look forward to continuing our relationship through a transition period and possibly beyond that.”
Zeitlin joined Equibase as vice president of marketing and sales in January of 1998, the same year the company became the sole data collection agency and provider of racing data to the Daily Racing Form. Promoted to executive vice president and chief operating officer of Equibase in January of 2003, Zeitlin was named president and chief operating officer in 2007.
During Zeitlin's tenure at the helm, Equibase greatly increased the availability of free data and information for fans and horseplayers alike, developed and expanded the Stats Central portion of the Equibase website, increased the presence of racing data on mobile devices including smart phones, and kept fans and media apprised of industry and individual performance through its Virtual Stable notification service. Currently, Equibase serves on average over 2 million pageviews per day, while the resources generated from the partnership between the Thoroughbred Racing Associations and The Jockey Club have been reinvested into the Thoroughbred industry.
“Equibase has achieved and, in many cases, surpassed all of its original goals regarding the quality and timeliness of its data collection and distribution, and Hank Zeitlin deserves a good deal of credit for that,” said Ogden Mills Phipps, the former chairman of The Jockey Club and a member of the Equibase Management Committee since it was formed. “With guidance from [past Equibase chairmen] Ted Bassett, Alan Marzelli, Nick Nicholson and, most recently, Ian Highet, Hank was at the helm for several important technological transformations that helped Thoroughbred racing keep pace with other major spectator sports. The success of the company under his leadership also once again reaffirmed the benefits of industry collaboration.”
Added TRA Executive Vice President Chris Scherf, “Through Hank's deft and prescient leadership, Equibase has been extremely successful in responding to the business challenges imposed by changing consumer habits and technology, while also capably serving the needs of the individual partner racetracks. His foresight and informative reports of general business trends at every TRA board meeting fostered complete confidence in the management of Equibase. The performance of the company during a time of decreased live racing and attendance has been viewed by the TRA as nothing less than exceptional.”
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