SMR names new Polo Club manager

Schroeder-Manatee Ranch this morning named Rebecca Gutierrez the new manager for the Sarasota Polo Club.

Gutierrez most recently managed the Mashomack Polo & Preserve Club in upstate New York at the Brigadoon Polo Club in South Carolina. She also has managed clubs in Florida, New Mexico and Canada.

“We could not be more pleased about Rebecca joining our team,” said Rex Jensen, president and CEO of SMR. “We have tasked her with elevating the Sarasota Polo Club to be one of the best in the country by attracting new players and using her extensive polo marketing expertise to make it even better than it is now.”

The Polo Club will now be more integrated with the Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club and overseen by General Manager Wayne Piazza.

“It just makes sense to have two of our successful membership subsidiaries fall under one area,” Piazza said. “We plan on doing some renovations to the Sarasota Polo Club over the next year to spruce up the grounds with additional landscaping and plan to open this season with some really nice improvements.”

Gutierrez, originally from northern England, began her polo career as a groom in Australia. She started managing clubs after moving to the United States in 2001. Her husband is a 3-goal polo professional and has played in Sarasota before, which made her very familiar with the club and with Lakewood Ranch.

“There is no better place in the country to play polo,” Gutierrez said. “Sarasota is one of the few clubs that really has everything – you have beautiful beaches, an amazing area to raise a family and fantastic weather year round. I am extremely excited to get started and plan on bringing in new players and making the upcoming season a memorable one.”

Gutierrez is part of a big polo family. In addition to her and her husband, her mother-in-law has been involved in working, timing and helping to announce games in Boca Raton for 40 years, and her father-in-law, Benny, a former 8-goal player, was inducted into the Polo Hall of Fame in Lake Worth.

Gutierrez replaced longtime manager Maggie Mitchell.