The executive committee, according to a release, will form several ad hoc planning committees to address pertinent issues, including health and welfare, educational programs on literacy and personal finance, standards and safety conditions, membership recruitment and services, legal and legislative issues, and marketing and promotion.An interim management team headed by Dr. L.W. Gertmenian, a professor of economics at Pepperdine University, is handling guild business. The organization, based in Lexington, underwent major changes in July when its national manager retired, and its regional directors were released. Some of them have returned.
Tomey Jean Swan, a pioneer in the Quarter Horse industry, has been named acting chairman of the board of The Jockeys' Guild, which currently is undergoing a major reorganization. She was elected unanimously by the guild's executive committee, according to a prepared statement."We want to be represented as the professional organization that we are as we move into the 21st century," Swan said.Swan, previously a guild vice president for its western region, was the first female jockey to win at every major Quarter Horse track in California in 1969.