Emily Straw was appointed to the board in September 2024. She is a longtime national competitor in the Equestrian industry and an investment manager by trade.
Straw’s experience in Equestrian has taken her to competitions across the U.S. and Canada.
Currently an amateur rider who competes across the U.S. in Hunter Jumper, Straw has won numerous national titles including at the United States Hunter Jumper Association (USHJA) Championships, and has placed near the top at the USHJA finals in Las Vegas and at Spruce Meadows in Canada. She has ridden under some of the best/top trainers in the country, and currently keeps her horses and trains in Spring Hill, Kansas.
Professionally, Straw works as a partner at an investment management firm called VELA Investment Management, located in New Albany, Ohio. Past experience includes serving as a Senior Vice-President at First Pacific Advisors in Los Angeles (2020-2024), Managing Director and Partner at Palmer Square Capital Management in Mission Hills, Kansas (2012-2019) and Managing Director and Partner at SSI Investment Management in Beverly Hills, California (2009-2012).
Straw is a 1995 graduate of Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, where she received her bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Sociology.
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