Jaime Morillo (ECU) appointed as PAEC Sport Development Officer

Ecuador’s Jaime Morillo, an FEI Level 3 Course Designer and Technical Delegate, has been appointed jointly by the FEI and the Pan American Equestrian Confederation (PAEC) as PAEC Sport Development Officer, a role wholly funded by FEI Solidarity. Morillo, who represented Ecuador at the Pan American Games in Puerto Rico 1979, will start in the newly created position on 1 August.

“We are delighted to announce the appointment of Jaime Morillo to this important new role”, PAEC President Cesar Hirsch said. “We undertook a lengthy and very thorough recruitment process and, together with the FEI, we have no doubt that we have found the perfect candidate for the job. Jaime Morillo is a well-known and highly respected figure in the PAEC region through his work within the FEI Solidarity coaching system and Equestrian Sports Educative Events. He is tailor-made for this new position within PAEC and we look forward to welcoming him to our team. We owe a huge debt of thanks to the FEI President Ingmar De Vos and to FEI Solidarity for offering us the funding for this new role that will be central to the continued growth of our sport in the region. Without their support it would simply not have been possible.”

“With the appointment of the highly experienced Jaime Morillo, the equestrian community across the Americas and Caribbean is set for a major boost,” FEI President and Chair of the FEI Solidarity Committee Ingmar De Vos said.

“The Pan American Equestrian Confederation represents a great many athletes, coaches and wider members of the equestrian community from 31 National Federations across the region.

“We are delighted that through FEI Solidarity - which promotes and develops equestrian culture and sport worldwide in a sustainable and structured way - we are able to grow equestrian sport and nurture talent from grassroots to the world stage.”

“I am very happy and proud, but also humble, to join PAEC and to take on this new role for the further development of equestrian sport in the Americas”, Jaime Morillo said. “I believe that my extensive knowledge of the sport in the region will mean that I can make a real difference and I look forward to working with our National Federations to help advance the sport here. It’s a big challenge but one that I can’t wait to get started on. I am going to just put my head down and work as efficiently and intelligently as possible to make this position really deliver.”

In his new role, Morillo will work closely with the FEI Solidarity Department, assisting the 31 National Federations of the Americas to develop their sports structures and systems in the framework of the FEI Solidarity Programme, and facilitating effective knowledge sharing and transfer within the PAEC region. He will work out of his home office in Wellington, Florida (USA), but will also make personal visits to the National Federations, consolidating geographical areas to maximise the efficiency of each trip.

Jaime Morillo was born in Hollywood, California (USA) to Ecuadorian parents, who moved the family back to Ecuador four years later. His passion for horses and equestrian sports developed at an early age and he spent a summer as a junior with Italian Jumping legend Graziano Mancinelli, individual gold medallist at the Munich 1972 Olympic Games. He studied economics and engineering project management at the University of Richmond in Virginia (USA) and, outside college, honed his competition skills with Frances Rowe. He was also coached by Los Angeles 1984 double gold medallist Joe Fargis and team gold and individual silver medallist Conrad Homfeld, who were based with Rowe. During that time, Morillo represented Ecuador in Show Jumping at the Pan American Games in Puerto Rico 1979, finishing 13th with Coppertone in a star-studded field topped by the great American combination of Michael Matz and Jet Run.

Morillo returned to Ecuador in 1980, working for 30 years in engineering and construction with a focus on finance and project management until switching careers when he got his Jumping course designer licence. He also started coaching professionally, graduating through the FEI Levels, and is now a Level 3 Course Designer and Technical Delegate, and a Level 3 coach in the FEI coaching system. He credits four individuals as being influential in nurturing his coaching skills – Ireland’s Liam Moggan and Gerry Mullins, the former FEI Solidarity Director Jacqueline Braissant (SUI) and her successor, Jean-Philippe Camboulives (FRA).

Morillo is fluent in Spanish and English, and also coaches through Portuguese. He holds dual nationality, but his competitive career and his work with the FEI have always been through the Ecuadorian National Federation. He has been based in Florida (USA) for the past seven years.

The recruitment process for the PAEC Sport Development Officer role, which started in January of this year with circulation of the job description to all FEI National Federations, generated 21 applicants of 13 nationalities. Candidates for the post came from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay.

Photo caption: Ecuador’s Jaime Morillo (left) with PAEC President César Hirsch after signing the contract for his new role as PAEC Sport Development Officer