NCHA Starts Executive Director Search

Bill Brewer, National Cutting Horse Association interim executive director since March 1, hopes it’s “a matter of weeks and not months” before he turns the job over to a full-time replacement, but said no definite timetable has been established.

Brewer, 65, executive vice president of the American Quarter Horse Association 17 years before retiring in March, 2009, has been asked to lead a committee seeking the next full-time NCHA executive director. The association does not plan to rush into a decision, but it does plan to act “as soon as is reasonably possible,” he said.

The NCHA will continue an application process through March 20. It has named a six-person committee including Brewer, NCHA President-Elect Ernie Beutenmiller, NCHA Vice President Barbara Brooks, and Executive Committee members Edley Hixson, Jr., Terry Strange, and Lach Perks, to interview “multiple applicants,” and make a recommendation. The full NCHA Executive Committee will eventually decide whether to hire that person as the next executive director or continue the search.

No precise time frame has been set for naming a replacement for Jeff Hooper, who will leave his post as NCHA executive director after 11 ½ years on March 16. Within a few days of the NCHA announcing its application process on its websitie, nchacutting.com, Brewer said several applications had already been received. He’d also heard about several more people who had expressed an interest in the position.

Hooper, 51, a Marietta, Ga., native, started his term as NCHA executive director Aug. 21, 2000, after previously serving as vice president of operations at Lone Star Park, a Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse race track in Grand Prairie, Texas. The Southern Methodist University graduate previously worked as executive director of a Thoroughbred breeders’ association, and for Track magazine, a horse racing publication, as a writer, photographer and advertising salesman.

“He left some big boots to fill,” Brewer said, adding he thought Hooper did a good job during his time with the National Cutting Horse Association, helping the association increase its cutting events payouts and its membership base. Hooper will have spent a couple weeks working alongside Brewer before his last official day in mid-March and has been “very helpful,” his interim replacement said.

The NCHA originally approached Brewer to head the committee to find Hooper’s replacement. It then talked him into filling in as interim director until that job’s done. While honored the NCHA trusted him with both jobs, he said he does not plan on serving as executive director long-term. He hopes to help find a new person soon.

Asked what qualifications the search committee might seek in the next NCHA executive director, Brewer said job requirements were left open-ended on purpose.

“I don’t think you can name a quality. It’s not just a manager. It’s not just someone that understands cash flow, or how to deal with the legislature, or dealing with association members, or the cowboy lifestyle. It takes a unique person. They can find that person