Global Symposium on Racing Speaker: Mark Simendinger
Mark began his career in horse racing in 1988 when he began working with Jerry Carroll on the renovation of Turfway Park Race Course in Florence, KY. Mark served as Turfway Park’s President from 1992 until the track was sold to Keeneland in 1999. He then headed the team that developed and operated Kentucky Speedway until the track closed in 2020. Subsequent to the sale of Turfway Park, Mark remained active in horse racing, completing several consulting assignments for TOBA and working with Dr. Richard Thalheimer while serving as an expert witness in litigation. He also bred, raced and sold several horses in partnership with Steve Cauthen’s Dreamfields Farm. In 2016, Mark was appointed to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, where he served two three-year terms. He served two years as KHRC Vice Chairman and all six years as the Chairman of the Rules Committee. In 2022, Mark was named to the Board of the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, where he still serves today on its Executive Committee. Mark is the owner of Severn Consulting, LLC which provides business consulting primarily to emerging and entrepreneurial businesses. In addition to the above activities, Mark developed several commercial real estate projects in the Northern Kentucky area with Jerry Carroll’s Carroll Properties. Mark is also a founding board member of University of Cincinnati Health’s Timothy Freeman Center for adults with developmental disabilities. This project, which recently opened its new state of the art office, serves as a national model for improving medical services to the developmentally disabled community.