Mark Samuel

A Hunter/Jumper competitor for over 45 years, Mark has a long list of accomplishments in the saddle.  He rode for the Canadian Show Jumping Team from 1999 to 2004, including at the 2002 FEI World Equestrian Games in Jerez, Spain, and the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. 

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Professionally, Mark is the former CEO and Chairman of Samuel Son & Co., Limited, (SSCL), a family owned metals and industrial products company headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. SSCL has 110 locations around North America and is the 4th largest enterprise of its kind in the continent. 

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Mark is also the current CEO of Sam-Son Farm, which has produced and trained champion Thoroughbreds for over four decades, earning 70+ Sovereign Awards, plus five Queen’s Plate titles. 

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Mark co-founded Jump Canada (JC) in 2004, and remained a key member of the JC Board and subsequent EC Jumping Committee for over 15 years. During that time, he spearheaded many key initiatives, including the JC Hall of Fame and JC Bursary, and helped to build and support EC programs and initiatives for jumping athletes across the country. Mark has also been instrumental to the sport on a provincial level as a co-founder of the Ontario Hunter Jumper Association (OHJA) and past Director of Ontario Equestrian (OE). He was named Volunteer of the Year for Jump Canada and Equine Canada. 

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Mark has also been a tireless contributor on the international equestrian scene, dedicating his time and expertise to the sport on a global scale. He has served as the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) Group IV Chair since 2012, responsible for directing the development of equestrian sport for 11 North American and Caribbean countries and has served as a Vice President of the FEI since 2017. 

In addition to his main FEI roles, Mark has been an invaluable member of multiple working groups and committees, including the FEI Officials Working Group, tasked in 2016 with providing analysis and discussion on issues pertaining to officials, from education to age limit withdrawal. In 2018 he was part of a temporary Endurance Committee, taking on the vital role of facilitating communication between the Committee and the FEI Board during a review of the discipline in an effort to urgently assess the issues affecting endurance and identify the most effective way to bring the sport back to its roots. 

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Most recently, Mark was called on to support the FEI’s COVID-19 task forces, sitting on each of the discipline-specific groups to help evaluate the impact of the pandemic on the FEI Calendar and make recommendations on how the FEI can address them. Mark has a history of stepping up in difficult times, having co-founded the Caribbean Equine Relief Fund in 2017, raising approximately $200,000 USD toward relief efforts for equines and equestrians in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. 

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In 2019, Equestrian Canada named Samuel the recipient of the Gold Medal Award, the highest and most prestigious of the governing body’s national honors.