Board of Directors

The FEIF president has the over-all responsibility within FEIF Board.  He or she acts as a link between the Board Members and secures the best possible co-operation within the Board. The president shall work to the benefit of all FEIF member countries and co-operates the service towards the FEIF Member Associations in general matters.

Gundula Sharman and her husband run an organic farm in the North East of Scotland, cultivating cereals and vegetables. They also breed Icelandic horses on a small scale, and train all their own youngsters. Their aim is to produce well-trained, family friendly horses for the UK leisure market.

Since 1998, Gundula has been working as a lecturer and head of the German department at the University of Aberdeen. For many years, she was also involved with the British Horse Society (all horse breeds), which is an important voice in the national horse industry in the UK.

She has been FEIF Director of Youth Work and member of the FEIF Board since 2014.

Gundula Sharman (UK) has been elected as FEIF President at the Delegates Assembly in Vienna in 2024.

The Director of Breeding is responsible for the Breeding department and thus responsible for the rules and regulations for breeding shows, for the registration of Icelandic horses in the global database World Fengur (in co-operation with the Farmers Association of Iceland (Bændasamtök Islands)),the education of international breeding judges,  and the definition of breeding goals.

Current Director of Breeding is Inge Kringeland (NO), elected February 2016.

Inge Kringeland was born on a farm on the west coast of Norway and has been working with animals including horses the most of his life.  In 1996 he came in contact with his first Icelandic horses with a plan to train and sell seven horses to earn some money.Those seven horses have grown to more than 70.  Inge is now living in the eastern part of Norway, near Oslo, together with Anita Martinsen on his farm, Kringeland. He has 5 adult children and 9 grandchildren.

Inge Kringeland has a Masters degree in animal breeding and nutrition from the Agriculture University of Norway and he has been working in the  agricultural business most of his life. At the moment Inge is the head of the office for agricultural affairs in the local authority. Inge has been involved in animal breeding from different angles. He has been leading the breeding program for honey bees in Norway for 13 years, been the leaders of the Norwegian breeding Council for all races of horses for 7 years and the breeding leader for Icelandic horses in Norway for 8 years. Inge has “given life” to two new Icelandic horse clubs in Norway, Hrani and Kraftur and he has been the chairman or a board member in both.

Inge has been involved in FEIF work since 2001 as Norwegian breeding leader, chairman of the FEIF registration group and member of the FEIF breeding Committee.  

Mark Timmerman has been involved in different FEIF activities for many years, as participant in national and international competitions including World Championships. He is licensed national sport judge and national breeding judge and certified level 3 trainer/instructor for Icelandic horses in the Netherlands.

He coordinates the education program for trainers/instructors of Icelandic horses in the Netherlands and teaches didactics, equine behavior and provides practical instructions. Since 2006 he has been the Chairman of the Dutch Society of Trainers and Instructors for the Icelandic Horse (VIT) (with an interruption between 2017 and 2019) and he is certified examiner for practical exams in equestrian education. Mark regularly participated in the FEIF education seminars during the past years and completed courses on different topics, e.g. saddle fitting, coaching skills, management training programs and mental coaching.

In his private life Mark is professor in periodontology and chairman of the exam’s committee at the Dental School in Nijmegen and riding teacher for Icelandic horses at his farm Stal de Hondsbergen.

Mark was elected by the Delegates’ Assembly 2024 as Director of Education.

The Director of Sport is responsible for all sport matters within FEIF. This covers the sport rules and regulations and guidelines for sport judges, the international co-operation between member countries and the different bodies involved in sport, the annual meeting of national sport leader (Sport Meeting), the Sport Committee, the international seminars for sport judges, the licenses for international sport judges and the test to become a licensed international sport juge, World Championships and the WorldRanking.

Will Covert started in horses very young, first in Quarter horses and now since 1993 in Icelandic horses. He lives in California with his wife Asta and daughter Bella who share his passion for the Icelandic Horse. Will became the first American to make the finals at the World Championships in 1997 when he rode Dynur fra Ytra-Skörðugili in F1. In 1999 he won the World Champion title in T2 on Blær fra Sigluvík. Will spent time in Iceland training horses and speaks near fluent Icelandic. He was the first American member of the Trainer Association of Iceland and is a certified farrier. He became a FEIF International Sport Judge in 2007. He was one of the judges at the World Championships in Switzerland 2009 and appointed deputy Chief Judge at the 2017 World Championships in Holland, 2019 World Championships in Berlin, Germany. Will has served on the FEIF Sport Judges Committee.

Will is a very active member of the United States Icelandic Horse Congress. He was president of the USIHC and a member of the Board of Directors along with being an active member of the Sport committee and the Education committee and previously served as the US Sport leader. Will hopes to bring his experience from the many areas of the Icelandic horse world to help FEIF continue to grow and serve the member committee and the Icelandic horse.

Will Covert (US)  is the FEIF Director of Sport, having been elected at the Delegates Assembly in Sweden in 2023.

The Director of Youth Work is responsible within FEIF for organizing and conducting the international co-operation between youth work in the member countries, the youth committeee and the FEIF Board. The stated aims of the Youth department are: (a) to promote excellence in riding and horsemanship skills, by supporting the educational youth work that happens in member countries; (b) to build up and foster cross border friendship and international networks that will grow and last beyond the teenage years of the participants, and (c) to promote sound knowledge and understanding of the Icelandic horse, its history and its culture.

The current FEIF Director of Youth Work is Catherine Mynn, she was elected at the Delegates’ Assembly 2025.