Board Term Fall 2023-2027

Board Term Fall 2024-2027

Fall 2021-2027, Executive Committee

Ashley Hart graduated from UVA in 2012 with a degree in history and is now a lawyer practicing commercial litigation in Charlottesville at Flora Pettit PC.  When she moved back to Charlottesville in 2021, she sought out volunteering with Virginia Polo as a way to give back to an organization that led to not only an amazing polo experience, but also meaningful friendships and leadership development. She enjoys visiting Virginia Polo as much as she can to connect with current students and watch the excellent polo the program has to offer.

Board Term Spring 2025-Fall 2027, Treasurer

A recent addition to the Virginia Polo Board, Hannah (McIntire '23 and M.S. in Accounting '24) currently serves as Treasurer and is proud to give back to the program that fundamentally shaped her UVA experience. Though a lifelong equestrian, Hannah was first introduced to polo as a student at UVA and was a member of the Women's team in her final year. She is currently based in Arlington, VA, working in Finance Transformation for Deloitte, but frequently makes time to visit her hometown, Charlottesville, VA.

Board Term Fall 2023-2026, Executive Committee, Student Liason

Growing up with horses and a family in the racing industry, Parker has always been deeply connected to the horse world and began playing polo at a young age. He then attended UVA and the McIntire School of Business while playing with the Virginia Polo Team for four years and graduating in 2023. Virginia Polo was an incredible part of those four years. Due to the impact Virginia Polo had on his life and the life lessons learned at Forest Lodge Drive, Parker jumped at the opportunity to join the board directly following graduation, with hopes of strengthening the connection between the students and board of directors while continuing to develop our organization. Parker now resides in Maryland and is lucky enough to continue his passion for polo while serving as the Manager of the Maryland Polo Club and developing a small business fabrication company.

Term Fall 2023-2027

Molly competed on the women’s team for four years, where her time with Virginia Polo inspired her pursuit of a career in veterinary medicine. Following her graduation from the Royal Veterinary College, she completed a veterinary internship in Charlottesville at Blue Ridge Equine Clinic. Now working as a veterinarian in the British Virgin Islands, Molly remains connected to the sport through volunteering on the board where she is excited to give back to the ponies and students.

Board Term Fall 2021-2026

A graduate of UVA’s McIntire School of Commerce, Jay Du-Sauzay is currently serving his second term on the board. He was first introduced to polo during his second year at the University. He immediately caught the polo bug and subsequently poured all of his effort into honing his skills, earning the Virginia Polo Nicoll Scholarship his 4th year. 

He continued his passion for the sport after graduating and moving to Atlanta to start his career. While rising through the ranks of the commercial real estate world, Jay developed a horse farm and played polo in Atlanta for several years before lending his talents to the Board of Directors. 

A 15 year construction management veteran, Jay currently serves as Senior Vice President of SK Commercial Realty’s Construction Management division. His expertise in the real estate industry lends well to advising the program on issues relating to land management, lease negotiations, construction projects and overall facilities maintenance. 

Jay is passionate about ensuring low cost polo is available for UVA students for years to come and hopes the program continues to provide future polo newcomers with the same life changing exposure to the sport that he received during his tenure at UVA. 

Board Term Fall 2024-2026, past Chair

A dedicated member of the Virginia Polo Board of Directors for over 15 years, Kris Wooten recently served as Board Chair and continues to champion the club’s mission of providing affordable polo to students. Kris was first introduced to polo as a student at UVA. She fell in love with the sport and continues to play today in Atlanta, GA. 

Professionally, Kris brings extensive financial and strategic expertise to the Board. Kris recently retired as Senior Vice President of International Finance and Mergers & Acquisitions for Turner Broadcasting following a 20-year career with the media and entertainment company. Prior to Turner, she worked in Finance for The Walt Disney Company and began her career in Mergers and Acquisitions with Dean Witter Reynolds in New York and Los Angeles. 

A 1988 graduate of the McIntire School of Commerce, Kris is committed to ensuring that future generations of students have the opportunity to experience the thrill of polo and the lifelong camaraderie of the Virginia Polo community.

Board Term 2024-2026

Felipe was born in New York and raised in Uruguay. He started playing polo at age 7 in Uruguay and became a pro at age 18. Felipe graduated from the University of Virginia in 2013 with a major in Economics and a minor in History. He has competed all over the world. Based in Wellington, he has horse organizations (playing and breeding purposes) in both the USA and Argentina. Felipe has represented the USA in two FIP World Cups and played for noticeable high goal organizations such as Valiente, Crab Orchard, Orchard Hill and White Birch. Currently rated at 6 goals, he and his brother Ignacio "Nachi" (also a UVa alum) run a farm in Wellington called Zapican.

Board Term Fall 2021-2026

Spent four years playing at Virginia Polo holding the positions of Treasurer, President, and Club Manager (summer) and graduated from the University of Virginia in 1999 from the College of Arts and Sciences. Nick grew up outside of Pittsburgh, PA, spent most of his career in New York City. He is Co-Chairman of the Harriman Cup, an alumni charity polo day in New York between the University of Virginia and Yale University.  Pursuits in polo have taken Nick throughout the country and globe, mostly to play with Virginia Polo friends.  He currently lives in West Palm Beach, FL working in Finance.

Board Term Fall 2024-2026, Student Liason

Jack McLean (Class of 2022) competed at Virginia Polo throughout his interscholastic career and always knew he was destined to play for the Wahoos at the collegiate level.  He served as captain of Men’s Varsity from 2018 to 2022 and helped lead the team to a national title in his final year.  Since graduating, Jack has worked in Finance & Strategy at a digital infrastructure investment company based in Boca Raton, FL.  He joined the Board of Directors in 2024 and is proud to give back to a program that has profoundly shaped his life.

Board Term Fall 2020-2026

Retired US Marine officer now working as a corporate executive in the mining, metals and energy space. An alumni of the US Naval Academy and Harvard Business School, Steve began playing polo in 1991 while on active duty and later captained the US Military Polo team. He joined the Virginia Polo board in order to provide support for the next generation of players of this amazing sport.

Joel arrived in Charlottesville in the fall of 1982 and graduated from UVA in the spring of 1986. He was asked to join the board by Rob Rinehart, who had been his coach in college.  Joel was honored to serve as Virginia Polo was an integral part of his college experience and, through it, he gained many of his closest lifelong friendships. Joel currently operates a small agricultural trading office dealing primarily in tobacco, tea, peanuts and agricultural processing equipment.

He is the longtime Chair of the Raymond Bruce Vere Nicoll Scholarship Fund and strives to help as many college polo players as possible in this role.

Past President

Karen grew up fox hunting and participating occasionally in three-phase events before discovering polo as a first-year student in 1983. Virginia Polo quickly became the focus of Karen’s extracurricular experience at UVA and where she spent most of her discretionary time back in the day when there was no full-time staff and students did even more of the everyday tasks than they do now. Karen started on the club team and advanced to varsity her third and fourth years, culminating in a close loss to Cornell for the National Championship in 1987.

Karen has been the Chief Legal Counsel for the South Carolina Department of Commerce for almost 30 years and joined the Virginia Polo Board in 2017 at the insistence of then Chair Nancy Schlichting to add another lawyer to the mix.

Karen hopes to have time to ride regularly again during retirement.

Originally from Lynchburg, Virginia, Earle and his wife Nicole have lived in Charlottesville for the last 23 years.

Earle graduated from the University of Virginia in 1972 and received his MBA from the University of Pittsburgh in 1986. Earle played a little polo while in college and later he took up the sport, avidly, under the encouragement of Rob Rinehart and played for many years at the Charlottesville Polo at Virginia Polo.

He served on the board of directors for Virginia Polo for a number of years. His other interests included riding show hunters, playing bridge, hiking, and snowboarding.

As the last surviving founding member of the Virginia Polo Club I recall the exhilarating opportunity of creating and learning to run a business at an early age. We learned as students the academic fantasy versus the real world, plus how to participate in a wonderful sport for the University of Virginia.

As a club we learned to raise money to pay bills such as feed for horses, veterinary expenses, spectator insurance, etc and made wonderful friends. Adult oversight came from men like Rodger Rinehart, Dr. Herbie Jones, Dr. Doug Nicoll, and Gene Wood, among others from the Charlottesville area.

This experience taught me how to stand up, take charge, and move out with my successful civil engineering career. I later had a wonderful family polo team: son, two daughters (one a VA Polo alumna) to play polo as a family in Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.  My father was captain of the US Army Polo Team in 1922, my brother in-law was captain of the 1941 West Point Military Academy Polo Team, and I was coach of the United States US Military Polo and Tent Pegging mounted parade group overseas and here in the states.

I was a groom at 16 years old for 10 goal player Stewart Iglehart. I have stayed involved with polo as past USPA Governor/Treasurer, Chairman of I/I Committee, and past Chairman of Polo Training Foundation.

 What a great ride!