President of Xponential Fitness, Sarah Luna, has left the company – one of the world’s leading franchisors of health and fitness brands – her last day was Friday, 13 December.

HCM understands Luna tendered her resignation on 6 December and left one week later.

In a statement, Xponential Fitness said: “Sarah Luna has stepped down as President of Xponential Fitness, effective Dec. 13. Prior to assuming the role of President in 2021, Sarah held brand-level leadership positions at Club Pilates and Pure Barre, contributing significantly to their evolution into leading boutique fitness brands.

"We thank Sarah for her service to Xponential and wish her continued success. The company is actively engaged in the search for a successor. In the interim, Xponential’s executive team will ensure seamless operations and ongoing support for franchisees and their members.”

High achiever Luna, started her career working 40 hours a week for a professional dance company and teaching Pilates during the evening and weekends to pay the bills. By the time she met former Xponential CEO, Anthony Geisler, in 2015 she had also added an MBA to her list of accomplishments.

After attending one of her Pilates classes, Geisler invited her to join Club Pilates as national sales director. After a couple of years she became VP of operations for the brand, before becoming president of Pure Barre and then president of the company in 2021.

“I just kept showing up every day and getting more responsibility and then walking through the doors as they opened,” she told HCM in a Life Lessons interview earlier this year.

She also spoke about how she handles stress and gets herself through challenging times: “Our life is a series of choices. It’s common for people to say they hate their job, or a certain aspect of their life, but I subscribe to the idea that if you don’t want to do it there are tons of people who will, so either get on and do the job you’ve signed up for and deal with the good, the bad and the ugly, or get out of the way.”

Luna’s resignation is another blow for Xponential which has had a turbulent year. The much vaunted partnership with actress Julianne Hough to turn the digital dance brand, Kinrgy, into a bricks and mortar concept has been discontinued.

In April two heavy hitters left. Chief international development officer, John Kersh, moved to Crunch Fitness and president of Xponential+, Garrett Marshall, also exited.

In May, Geisler was suspended over a legal challenge from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.

In August, with new CEO, Mark King, at the helm, the company reported a Q2 net loss of US$13.7 million, following the US$4.4 million loss posted in Q1.

In Q3 the net loss was US$18 million and the guidance for new studio openings was slightly lowered from 500-520 to 490-510.

Hospitality expert, King, has said that Xponential will be transitioning towards a more marketing and operations-driven culture “that places franchisee success at the centre.”

This strategy is supported by the appointment of Bruce Haase to the board of directors and to serve on the Human Capital Management Committee. Haase has extensive experience with consumer-oriented hospitality brands, including being CEO of Extended Stay America and was previously executive VP at Choice Hotels International.

Haase said: “My career has been dedicated to building consumer-focused brands by delivering a best-in-class franchisee experience to large franchise networks. I'm looking forward to helping Xponential execute its vision to foster a franchisee-first culture and to achieve profitable, sustainable growth.”