David Lermond leaves post as Virginia Racing Commission leader

David Lermond left his position as executive secretary of the Virginia Racing Commission.

In a letter to “friends and stakeholders” released Tuesday, Lermond did not disclose the reason for his departure, saying only that he is no longer an employee of the commission.

In a phone conversation with Horse Racing Nation on Tuesday, Lermond declined to discuss the circumstances of his departure. “I would rather just let my statement stand,” he said. But he said the departure was amicable.

Bernard Hettel is serving as interim executive secretary of the commission He also was executive secretary for five years until 2016.

Lermond, 57, joined the Virginia Racing Commission in 2004. He said he’s uncertain what his next step will be.

“I have so many different avenues that I’ve been a part of, with working for Delaware Park for 10 years as the director of simulcasting, and then I was started with the Virginia Horse Racing Commission as director of parimutuels and became the fiscal officer and went to steward school and then I was the deputy,” he said. “We’ve got HHR now, which was a whole, very interesting and challenging thing to regulate. I just have a lot of contacts in the industry. And I just want to do something that can benefit horse racing, but something different.”

Hettel said he did not know the specifics surrounding Lermond’s departure.

“They asked me to fill in during the time between his departure and hiring a new director,” he said in a phone conversation.

He said the search process for a new executive secretary began Tuesday, and that the staff was putting together an advertisement for trade publications.