ALRV-General Assembly, April 28th, 2008

ALRV: Supervisory Board instead of Executive Board
Managing Board assumes Executive Management -
Green Jacket for Beezie Madden and Kai Vorberg

In the course of the General Assembly of the Aachen-Laurensberger Rennverein e.V. (ALRV), organiser of the CHIO Aachen (June 27th - July 6th) on Monday evening, structural and staff changes have been decided upon. The 144 members that were present enacted updated Articles of Association according to which the former Executive Board is transformed into a Supervisory Board and the Executive Management is altered into a Managing Board.

"In accordance with a modern management style, the full responsibility and decision authority that has hitherto been commonly administrated by the unsalaried Executive Board and the Executive Management will from now on be transferred to the new Managing Board", explained ALRV-President Klaus Pavel. Frank Kemperman will represent the Managing Board, in the future he will be backed up by Authorised Representative Helen Rombach. "The Supervisory Board will take over a controlling function. This is not a realignment of the ALRV, but a contemporary restructuring." Along with that, a reduction of the average age of the members of the ALRV's highest Board is planned. In the course of this consideration, two members of the former Executive Board - Vice President Klaus Peters and Board Member Professor Dr. Arno Gego - have decided to refrain from running for an office in the new Supervisory Board. "Both of them have contributed so much to the development of the ALRV. We would like to thank them heartily for their commitment", said Pavel.

Instead of them, Carl Meulenbergh - District President of Aachen - as well as the young businesswoman Stefanie Peters have been elected for the Supervisory Board. All other members of the hitherto existing Executive Board have been approved by the General Assembly for the Supervisory Board: Klaus Pavel as Chairman as well as Hans Kauhsen, Wolfgang Mainz, Peter Weinberg and Baron Wolf von Buchholtz. Disctrict President Meulenbergh will first become Vice Chairman of the Supervisory Board and will in the future become the successor of Pavel. "Since I will retire from this Board previous to the end of the quadrennial term of office", announced Pavel, who has been leading the association as President since 1993. Meulenbergh, who has been member of the ALRV's Advisory Board until now, will be substituted by the former dressage rider and current Chairman of the Deutsche Sporthilfe Also Michael Westkamp, Chairman of the AachenMünchener was elected for the Advisory Board. "We are all of the opinion that the structural and staff changes that we have now instituted will form an extraordinary foundation for the future of the ALRV and the CHIO Aachen", stressed Pavel.

Meanwhile the outcome of the first World Equestrian Festival, CHIO Aachen with five disciplines was extremely positive. "With almost 340,000 spectators, TV coverage into more than 130 countries and 30 hours of national live coverage on TV, the CHIO Aachen 2007 was an overwhelming success", said Pavel.

The winner of the ROLEX Grand Prix, Beezie Madden (USA) and the winner of individual vaulting, Kai Vorberg (Cologne, Germany) were accepted in the "Winners' Club". Pavel, still President and future Chairman of the Supervisory Board, helped them to dress with the traditional "Green Jacket" that all members of the Winners' Club (all winners of the individual final competitions become members) CHIO Aachen receive. Frank Ostholt (winner of DHL-Preis, Eventing) and Sissi Jarz (winner vaulting females) unfortunately were not able to accept the Jacket personally. The other two winners of the CHIO Aachen 2007, Isabell Werth (Deutsche Bank Prize, Dressage) and Ijsbrandt Chardon (Prize of Family Richard Talbot, Driving) have already received their Green Jacket several years ago.

Also for the tournament between June 26th and July 6th, 2008 there will be some modifications for the spectators from all over the world that will visit Aachen's Soers. "Last year we learned that we have to distribute the CHIO's extended programme (extended because of the two new disciplines Eventing and Vaulting) equally over a longer time period", said Pavel. Because of that, the tournament 2008 will be the first one after more than 40 years that will be organised over ten days and with that over two weekends. For the first time, the CHIO will start with the vaulting on the first tournament weekend. The new floodlight events like the show jumpers' Mercedes Benz Nations' Cup on Thursday evening have been valuated "extraordinarily good" by the audience and will therefore also be part of the tournament highlights in 2008. This year's partner country will be Russia, which will present itself especially during the show programmes and during the CHIO Opening Ceremony on July 1st in the Main Stadium.

The following members of the Aachen-Laurensberger Rennverein e.V. have been awarded for their longterm committed relationship to the association:

25 years of membership

• Burgi Erdsiek
• Marianne Fuhrmann
• Christian Fuhrmann
• Dr. Peter Mester
• Wilhelm Mobertz
• Agathe Strauff
• Renate Waldhausen-Krick
• company gepe Gebäudedienste Peterhoff

40 years of membership

• Hans Axmacher
• Josef Flachs
• Member of the Executive Board Prof. Dr. Arno Gego
• former Member of the Advisory Board Herr Dr Joachim Jötten
• Otto Schaefer

50 years of membership

• Ursula Esser
• Willy Knops
• Willy Schmitz

60 years of membership

• Otto Geilenkirchen
• Marga Küpper
  

The "Winners' Club":

The idea of the "Winners' Club" originated at the end of the Nineties: It was intended to pay a special tribute to the winners of the "Grand Prix of Aachen". With the installation of the "Winners' Club", the ALRV stresses its identification with the sport and the athletes.

For the first time in 1999, in the course of the General Assembly, winners of the Grand Prix 1998 have been accepted into the "Winners' Club". Since then, all Grand Prix winners have been honoured on the occasion of the annual General Assembly; the winners are appointed to the "Winners' Club" by the ALRV members that have attended the assembly. Furthermore, the winners receive a tailor-made honorary jacket (green cloth, black velvet collar, special buttons with the ALRV emblem).

Members of the "Winners' Club"(since 1998):