Brendan Higgins appointed as Horse Sport Ireland Head of Finance

Brendan Higgins has been appointed to the role of Head of Finance at Horse Sport Ireland and will join the National Governing Body on Monday March 11th.

Brendan (pictured) is a qualified accountant and was the youngest ever member to be admitted to an Irish Institute in 2002. Brendan joined the Setanta Sports group in 2004 where he was initially responsible for the financial control of its newly launched Irish operations. He was appointed to the position of Chief Financial Officer of the overall group in 2013 where he played a key part in the strategic direction and commercial operations of the business. As CFO, Brendan was an instrumental member of the executive team that returned Setanta Sports to profitability and launched geographical expansion into Eurasia. A native of Drumree, Co; Meath, Brendan has a keen interest in sport horse breeding and equestrian pursuits.

On announcement of his appointment Brendan commented: “I’m delighted to be joining Horse Sport Ireland in this pivotal role as Head of Finance. I strongly believe the Irish Sport Horse Industry has immeasurable potential and I’m looking forward to being part of the Horse Sport Ireland team that delivers this potential.”

Horse Sport Ireland CEO, Ronan Murphy, welcomed Brendan’s appointment: “We are delighted that Brendan will be joining us as Head of Finance at this critically important time for Horse Sport Ireland and the Irish Sport Horse Industry. Brendan brings a wealth of experience to this important role and his technical, commercial and strategic background and experience will support our operations and the future development of the sector.”

Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) is the centralised national body for the entire sport horse industry (breeding & sport) in Ireland. HSI is recognised by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Sport Ireland, Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) and the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) and Sport Northern Ireland. It has responsibility for devising and implementing strategies for the development and promotion of an internationally competitive sport horse industry, covering breeding and production, high performance sport, equestrian sport and recreation and coaching and education activities. As part of its remit, HSI maintains the Irish Horse Register which incorporates the Irish Sport Horse and Irish Draught Horse Studbooks under licence from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.