Thomas H. Hicks, whose longtime experience in both the Standardbred sport and top financial circles gave the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA) a chance to have a wealth of experience at the head of an effort to their stabilizing and growing the organization’s finances, has done his Association jobs so well that he has been voted the Member of the Year Award by USHWA, the sport’s leading organization for communicators.

Hicks, a member of USHWA’s Florida chapter and a National Director for the last four years, has bred national champions such as the million-dollar-winning racehorse turned coveted sire Crazed, and was the Executive Director of the Florida Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association (FSBOA) in 2011. He regularly writes about North American monte (saddled) racing and the European Grand Circuit, especially his beloved Vincennes racetrack in Paris and its world-class Prix d’Amerique Trot. The Florida Chapter of USHWA honored him with the Allen J. Finkelson Award for journalistic excellence in 2013.

It is the business side of Hicks’s “pedigree,” though, replete with prestigious names such as the Harvard Business School, that has made him immensely valuable to USHWA. Hicks is founder and managing partner of Renaissance Partners LLC, a management and turnaround firm which, as its name suggests, specializes in developing and then helping to implement a rebirth and profit plan, both short- and long-term, for its clients. The Renaissance “touch” is evident in Tom’s guidance and plans to both keeping a sharp eye on expenses while also growing the association’s income through such varied venues as USHWA’s annual award dinner and through the group’s website, www.ushwa.org.

In announcing Hicks as the recipient of the “USHWAn of the Year” award, as it is known within the Association, USHWA President Tim Bojarski stated, “A panel of recent recipients of this award selected Tom for his longtime dedication to the Florida Chapter, his work on USHWA’s national tax and audits committees in recent years, and now his spearheading the new Budget Committee, which will ensure the long-term viability of the Association. Everyone in USHWA appreciates Tom’s efforts on behalf of the group, and this award adds the exclamation point to these sentiments.”

Tom Hicks will be honored at the “Night Of Champions,” the Dan Patch Awards Banquet Presented by Hoosier Park, which will take place on Sunday, February 26 at the Planet Hollywood hotel/casino in Las Vegas. Information about the banquet and the entire weekend, which will also contain the annual meetings of USHWA, can be found on the communicators’ website, www.ushwa.org – including links for making hotel reservations at special rates at Planet Hollywood; banquet tickets; and congratulatory or acknowledgment ads in the keepsake Souvenir Banquet Journal, annually one of the best chronicles of a year in North American harness racing.

(with files from USHWA)