Harness: Phil Langley retains USTA Presidency

The annual United States Trotting Association Board of Directors meeting took place in Columbus, Ohio as 51 of the 60 directors discussed industry issues and elected officers. Incumbent Phil Langley won the highly anticipated battle for President defeating Jason Settlemoir by a 38 to 13 final tally.

Langley has been President of the USTA since 2003 and was re-elected in 2007 and 2011. He addressed the Board prior to the election saying, “I have great optimism for this business . . . we have and can accomplish new things; especially with social media.”

Langley wrapped up his three-minute speech with a reference to Harness Racing’s leading money-winning pacer. “Like Foiled Again, I think I have a few races left in me.”

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Settlemoir, a USTA Director and General Manager/CEO of the Meadowlands, ran for the position hoping to “bring a fresh new perspective to the USTA”. He cited USTA membership being down 50%, the number of starters per year decreasing by 22% and the number of mares bred falling 49% as the initial items which needed to be addressed.

Langley provided his President’s report to the Board after his victory and immediately touched on some of Settlemoir’s points.

“I think with Ohio and Indiana coming on (due to slots) we’ll see the numbers (of mares/starters) coming up,” said Langley, who lauded the work of his staff including Mike Tanner (Executive Vice President), Dan Leary (Director of Communications) and T.C. Lane (Director of Registry and Member Services).

Ivan Axelrod (Chairman of the Board), Russell Williams (Vice-Chairman), Richard Brandt (Treasurer), and Barbara Brooks (Secretary) all ran unopposed and retained their positions at the Sunday (3/15) morning meeting.