California’s seven racing commissioners voted unanimously Thursday for commissioner Charles ‘Chuck’ Winner to serve as chairman of the California Horse Racing Board beginning January 6, 2014, the date that current chairman David Israel’s final term will expire.
The commissioners also elected commissioner Bo Derek to serve as 1st vice chair and commissioner Richard Rosenberg to serve as 2nd vice chair.
Chair elect Winner presented chairman Israel with a framed gavel on behalf of their fellow commissioners and thanked him for his years of service on the Board, especially for his tireless efforts this last year as chairman, indicating that “everybody who has anything to do with horse racing owes you a debt of gratitude.”
Chairman Israel was appointed to the CHRB in July 2008 and reappointed in March 2010, marking five and a half years of service. His parting advice to his colleagues and the industry was to “keep the sport clean and safe and it will find its audience.”
Brief biographies for the three new officers follow.
CHARLES WINNER – Vice Chairman in 2013…Appointed to the CHRB April 3, 2012…Founded in 1975 Winner & Associates, LLC, of Los Angeles, one of the premier public policy and corporate branding, advertising, and public relations companies in the country, providing strategic, crisis, marketing and government relations communications services to a wide range of Fortune 500 corporations, trade associations, law firms and government organizations…Also created Winner & Mandabach Campaigns, the leading ballot measure campaign firm in the U.S. with a 90-per-cent success record in over 250 campaigns, in which he remains a partner…Previously served as a consultant to various local, state and federal campaigns from 1969 to 1975… Former professional associations: President of the Board of Telecommunications Commissioners for the City of Los Angeles, Board member of Earth Conservation Corps, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Cable Access Conveners Association, Board member of Mercantile National Bancorp, Board member of the Los Angeles Police Foundation, Board member of Energy Factors Corporation…Civic and charitable activities: Member Claremont University Consortium Board of Overseers; Founder, Los Angeles Music Center; Founder II, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Builder, Los Angeles Children’s Museum; Chancellor’s Associate and Grant-in-Aid donor, UCLA; Board member of UCLA Hall of Fame Selection Committee; Member of UCLA Athletics’ Centennial Campaign Committee and Pauley Pavilion Committee; Honorary committee member of the Ginetta Sagan Fund of Amnesty International; Former President of the Medallion Group of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center; Former Board member International Foundation for Pain Research; Board member of CuresNow; Board member of Science and Entertainment Exchange…Involved in horse racing since 1986…Has owned in partnerships the graded stakes winners Magical Fantasy, Domestic Dispute, Daytona, Fine n’ Majestic, Yankee Bravo, Liberian Freighter, Fantastic Spain, The Pamplemousse, Three Degrees, I Want Revenge, and Walkslikeaduck…Charles and his wife Annie have four children Ethan, Zachary, Nicole and Justyn.
BO DEREK — Member, appointed to the CHRB July 15, 2008...Reappointed in March 2010…Instantly recognizable for her performance in the 1979 smash hit ‘10’ and other motion pictures, has since devoted much of her time to humanitarian efforts for people and animals alike…Serves as special envoy of the Secretary of State for Wildlife Trafficking, working to create awareness of the dangers of wildlife trafficking…Serves on the boards of the boards WildAid and the Galapagos Conservancy, Ecuador…Created Bless the Beasts, a line of pet products sold in stores nationwide…Served nine years as national honourary chairperson for the Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Rehabilitation Special Events – four annual therapeutic and rehabilitative events designed to help veterans overcome their disabilities through competition, the hallmark of rehabilitative programs in the nation…Named Honourary Green Beret in 2002 by the Special Forces Association, joining only four other Americans so honoured, in recognition of her efforts on behalf of America’s men and women in uniform and U.S. military veterans...Participates in USO tours…Appointed by President George W. Bush to the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees…An avid horsewoman, serves as spokeswoman (along with trainer Nick Zito) for the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, which would ban horse slaughter and the transport of horses from the U.S. for the purpose of human consumption in other countries, and was instrumental in the closing of the three horse slaughter plants remaining in the U.S…A published author, wrote ‘Riding Lessons: Everything That Matters in Life I Learned from Horses.’
RICHARD A. ROSENBERG — Member, appointed to the CHRB September 24, 2009…Reappointed Sept. 26, 2012…Former worldwide head of the Music Department of the William Morris Agency, later became a member of the executive committee, and served in those positions until his retirement in 2005…Previously was a founding partner in 1974 of Regency Artists, LTD, a music agency, until in 1984 he merged Regency with two other agencies to form a full-service theatrical agency, Triad Artists, Inc; from 1988 to 1992, served as president of Triad, and in 1992 he was one of the architects of the acquisition of Triad by the William Morris Agency…Appointed to the State of California Entertainment Commission in 1983…Received his B.S. from UCLA in 1959 and LLD from UCLA Law in 1962; practiced law in Beverly Hills with the firm of Hertzberg, Childs, Rosenberg, and Shiotani for more than 11 years…Served as past president of the Beverly Hills Barristers and board member of the Beverly Hills Bar Association…Raced standardbreds for many years in California, currently owns thoroughbreds racing in Southern California…Resides in Solana Beach.
(CHRB)