Sabrina Zeender, 49, has been appointed FEI Secretary General following a proposal to the FEI Bureau from FEI President Ingmar De Vos which received unanimous support. Zeender, who first joined the FEI in 1991, has been interim Secretary General since De Vos’ election to the FEI Presidency on 14 December 2014.
Sabrina Zeender holds a bachelor’s degree in Science in Communications and History from Boston University and a diploma in Sociology, Politics and Management of Sport Science from the Universities of Lausanne, Leicester, and Montpellier.
Zeender, who has been with the FEI since 1991, has served as FEI Director, Governance and Executive Affairs since 2011. She has previously held the positions of Human Resources, Finance & Administration coordinator; Sports administrator; and Manager of the Secretary General’s office. She left the organisation briefly in 1995 to work in her family’s business in the USA, returning to the FEI in 1998.
Prior to working for the FEI, Sabrina Zeender was with Telecom Japan TV Productions in New York (USA) and the Fédération Internationale de Natation Amateur (FINA) in Lausanne (SUI).
"I would like to warmly congratulate Sabrina on her appointment as FEI Secretary General," FEI President Ingmar De Vos commented. "She is the first woman to hold this key management position in the FEI and the fact that we have been able to fill such an important position in-house clearly demonstrates that the FEI has grown into a professional organisation with a highly qualified team.
"Sabrina’s deep understanding of the FEI rules and regulations, of which she has a long experience, and her knowledge of equestrian sport will be invaluable in her new role and I would like to thank the FEI Bureau for their full support for this appointment. I proposed Sabrina on the basis of her qualifications but also for her unfailing work ethic, reliability, dedication, and team spirit. The spontaneous and warm applause from the National Federations following the announcement at the General Assembly in Baku that Sabrina would take over the post on an interim basis shows the high regard in which she is held. I am confident that Sabrina will do an outstanding job as the new FEI Secretary General."
"I am honoured and humbled by this appointment and I would like to thank the FEI President and Bureau members for their trust," the new FEI Secretary General Sabrina Zeender said. "I have been with the FEI for a long time and have seen it grow and develop. I am very aware of the potential this great organisation has and am thrilled to play a part in its future. The FEI Family feels like a true family to me and I undertake this new challenge with joy and enthusiasm."
Sabrina Zeender is a Swiss national of Salvadorian, American, and Austrian descent. She is fluent in English, French, and Spanish and has two sons aged 18 and 21.
Photo caption: Sabrina Zeender has today been appointed FEI Secretary General, and becomes the first woman in the history of the FEI to hold this position. (FEI)
For more information, please contact:
Grania Willis
Director Press Relations
grania.willis@fei.org
+41 78 750 61 42
Ruth Grundy
Manager Press Relations
ruth.grundy@fei.org
+41 78 750 61 45
20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is www.aroundtherings.com, for subscribers only
Recent Articles
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
