Ann McGovern

Ann McGovern oversees HISA’s Racetrack Safety Program as well as reporting related to its enforcement. McGovern has several decades of experience in horseracing, including racetrack management roles at Remington Park in Oklahoma, Sam Houston Race Park in Texas and Ruidoso Downs Racetrack and Casino in New Mexico. She began her career at Louisiana Downs, where she eventually became the track’s Assistant Director of Public Relations and Marketing and oversaw ownership’s development of Remington Park, where she was named Director of Operations.

Later, while serving as Vice President of Operations at Sam Houston Race Park, McGovern also served on the board of the National Chaplaincy Program and was instrumental in the development of the Groom Elite Program. After becoming President and General Manager of Ruidoso Downs in 2008, McGovern oversaw the ownership company’s public golf course, community newspaper and multiple radio stations, in addition to managing the racetrack and casino.

Following her tenure at Ruidoso Downs, she retired from fulltime racetrack management and has since worked on select projects including Kentucky Downs’ HHR casino expansion and the oversight of the track’s unique, 15-day all turf racing program. McGovern also managed the multimillion-dollar renovation and reopening of Arizona Downs, which, after falling out of use for 10 years, now operates a modernized, first-class facility year-round.

McGovern graduated from West Virginia University with a B.S. in Agriculture and completed the Race Track Industry Program at the University of Arizona.