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O P I N I O N
I began my service within the USPA about
10 years ago as a lieutenant governor – now
I am chairman of the USPA. When you
involve yourself in a non-profit volunteer
position you soon realise that these entities
typically take whatever they can get from
a volunteer. This can detract from your own
personal life and requires time and priority
management. That is why there are a lot of
very qualified people who will not involve
themselves in volunteer positions and this
is a symptom within the USPA. We have
many good volunteers, but there are many
more out there who have the resumé to
serve, but will not. You must dedicate time
and have a passion to involve yourself in
this type of work.
In my tenure with the USPA, I have
operated under one thesis: leave it better
than you found it! Realising my tenure will
come to a close in the near term, I intend to
accomplish that for the benefit of the USPA
and its members.
During my time with the USPA, I have
noticed many things that did not make sense
– mostly organisational and operational.
However, there are many things that
are correct and I attribute the things that
needed fixing to previous management
turnover, spending growth, the size of the
board and its bureaucratic nature, as well as
‘the many sports’ within the sport of polo
that the USPA is tasked with administering.
There is no way around the size of the
board – I attempted to change it and it was
rejected. Those are the rules we are tasked to
play by in the USPA, that is the way it is. We
do have a nine-member executive committee,
which helps with the management of the
USPA, but we are essentially a committee-
run organisation with multiple committees
tasked with different subject matters, each
with multiple members – all volunteers.
Matters are considered and vetted at the
committee level and then rise up to the
executive committee/board level for ultimate
approval. This process can, and usually does,
take months. There is an implementation
period, which takes longer. These processes
can be frustrating when you’re used to
making things happen fast, as most of us
do in our own personal business.
I wrote a forward to the 2018 USPA
Bluebook
several months ago that recaps
my analysis of the USPA. But, since my
election in September 2017 to the role of
the USPA chairman it is worthwhile to
reflect on the progress we have made as
an organisation:
P E R S O N N E L
We’ve hired a new CEO and a new executive
director of services. We’ve also eliminated
and consolidated the position of executive
director of USPA Polo Development, LLC,
and we continue to reorganise personnel
and staff to be more efficient in relation
to mission objectives.
R E O R G A N I S AT I O N
We’ve restructured the three wholly
owned subsidiaries (Polo Development,
Umpires and Brand/Marketing LLC)
including their boards, designated powers,
reporting and accountability to the USPA
board. We are also in the process of
aligning, updating and complying with
Illinois state law and providing consistency
to the USPA governing organisational
documents and policies.
Awarding prize money to our three
highest-level USPA tournaments has
enhanced support for the authenticity
associated with our brand and licensing
subsidiary (USPA Global Licensing),
along with substantiating polo as
a ‘legitimate’ sport for our members,
which could help for tax reporting.
The board has approved a horse-
breeding registry and committee. We have
also formalised, tasked and received board
approval for a strategic planning committee
to steer the organisation into the future.
F I N A N C I A L
We passed a fixed dollar annual subsidy
ILLUSTRATION: PHIL DISLEY
The chairman of the USPA reflects on the association’s challenges,
progress and plans for the future
CHIP CAMPBELL
