Keeneland's Bill Thomason elected chairman of NTRA board

Bill Thomason, the chief executive officer of Keeneland Association, was elected the chairman of the board of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association on Thursday, at a meeting in which the association also created a smaller executive committee to meet more frequently with management, according to the NTRA.

Thomason, a member of the NTRA board since 2012 as the representative from founding member Keeneland, will also serve as the chair of the five-member executive committee, which will meet with the NTRA’s management monthly, according to Keith Chamblin, an NTRA spokesman who is a vice president of the association. The NTRA’s full board includes 16 members, and it meets on a quarterly basis.

“It will allow the management team to meet [with directors] a bit more often and a bit more quickly,” Chamblin said.

In addition to Thomason, the executive committee will include Craig Fravel, the chief executive officer of Breeders’ Cup; Greg Avioli, the chief executive officer of the Thoroughbred Owners of California; Alan Foreman, the chief executive officer of the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association; and Mike Ziegler, the executive director of racing at Churchill Downs, Inc.

The NTRA also added a member to its board at the Thursday meeting, selecting Glen Berman, the executive director of the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, to fill the seat. The FHBPA recently rejoined the NTRA.

Several other board members were elected to replace directors whose terms had expired. Jim Gagliano, the chief operating officer of The Jockey Club, was elected to replace Robert Clay, the longtime board member who is the owner of Three Chimneys Farm. Josh Rubinstein, the president of Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, will replace Craig Dado in Del Mar’s seat; and Ziegler will replace William Mudd as Churchill’s representative on the board.