King new MD at Leisure Connection

Management company Leisure Connection has announced that Neil King will be joining the business as its new managing director.

A fitness industry veteran, King currently holds the role of commercial director at Everyone Active and has also worked at Fitness First during his 22-year career. He will take over from Richard Millman.

Julian Nicholls, chair of Leisure Connection, says: “Neil will lead the development of the business and his first-class leisure experience and industry knowledge will enhance Leisure Connection’s already strong market position.

“His appointment marks the next important step for us, which is hot on the heels of an £11m recapitalisation of the Leisure Connection business last year.”

King adds: “I’ve been impressed with the progress which I’ve seen at Leisure Connection in recent months and I’m delighted to be joining the business at such a pivotal moment. Leisure Connection has an impressive team and a wide-ranging and diverse client portfolio which forms an
excellent foundation on which to continue to build the business.”

King is also a board member of ukactive, and SkillsActive, and a trustee of the Health & Fitness Foundation.

Neil King

Life Fitness promotes two senior managers

Life Fitness has made two key changes to its European top team.

The company has appointed Jason Worthy as the new managing director for the group’s UK business. Worthy is a fitness industry veteran, having previously worked with LA Fitness and Fitness First.

He was also head of sales at Technogym until 2007. Worthy initially joined Life Fitness in April 2012 as the general manager for the distributor business in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region.

Elsewhere Kyle Millroy, operating out of the Life Fitness Benelux office, will now serve as the managing director for the distributor business. Millroy came to Life Fitness in 2011 as senior account manager for distributor business before being promoted to business development manager.

Frank van de Ven, vice president of international business for Life Fitness, says: “Life Fitness has an exceptional talent base that drives us internationally.

“These changes reflect the hard work of both team members and signal a renewed commitment to the growing strength of the industry in both regions and globally.”

Worthy will be tasked with leading the UK business

Carl Liebert Leaves 24 Hour Fitness

Carl Liebert, president and CEO of US-based group 24 Hour Fitness, has announced he is leaving the company. The move became effective on 17 May. Liebert had been with 24 Hour Fitness for six years. He is leaving to become president of USAA Capital Corp.

The company has announced that the day-to-day management will be undertaken by a three-strong office of the chair while it searches for a new CEO. The three members in the office are Elizabeth Blair, Jeff Boyer and Patrick Flanagan.

Rob Barker named Precor president

UK industry veteran and current Precor vice president, Rob Barker, has been named as the new Precor president.

Barker joined Precor in 1995 as the UK sales and marketing manager and has developed his experience through several positions.

For the last five years, Barker has served as vice president of EMEA & APAC, and as a member of the global Precor senior management team, where he has helped shape the company’s growth strategy.

The news follows the announcement that long-standing Precor president Paul Byrne will retire on 1 September 2013.

Byrne has worked with Precor for 28 years, including 13 as president. During his reign, Precor has grown from a US$20m manufacturer of home rowing machines in the US to a US$350m supplier of home and commercial fitness experiences globally.

Barker says: “I’m honoured and excited to be asked by Paul Byrne to become the Precor president upon his retirement. It’s been my good fortune to work closely with Paul for many years and to see first-hand how Precor has, under his stewardship, innovated entirely new categories of fitness equipment and services like the EFX, AMT and Preva.”

Barker will take over from the retiring Paul Byrne

Gillingwater and Ashley join sporta team

sporta has expanded its head office team to further support its cultural and leisure trust members.

Cate Gillingwater joins sporta as programme manager, supporting a Sport England Lottery-funded project to deliver a community sports participation programme in England. The aim is to increase the number of individuals aged 14 and upwards who are participating in sport once a week, as well as providing feedback on what does and does not work in the sector.

Gillingwater joins sporta from Age UK, where she worked on the Big Lottery-funded ‘Fit as a Fiddle’ programme across England. She has also worked for East Riding of Yorkshire Council in a number of roles, mainly managing Sport England and partner-funded programmes targeting inactive populations.

Nathan Ashley has also joined sporta’s head office. Ashley will take up the role of policy and projects officer, a new role that will see him working with members, collating evidence of the work they carry out to build social cohesion and tackle inactivity. He will also be involved in lobbying and public policy issues, helping to influence policies and agendas.

Gym Group’s Treharne: CEO of the year award

John Treharne, chief executive of The Gym Group, has been named CEO of the Year in the South East by the British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA).

The award was one of seven presented as part of the South East final of the BVCA Management Team Awards, produced in partnership with Clearwater Corporate Finance, which celebrates the achievements of companies backed by private equity and venture capital.

The award results in automatic qualification into the national finals. National winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on 4 July 2013.

The Gym Group was founded by Treharne in 2007 and was backed by Bridges Ventures the same year.

- The news came just weeks after the company achieved 15th place in the prestigious The Sunday Times 100 Best Small Companies to Work For list.

Treharne won the regional award for south-east

Treharne won the regional award for south-east

Total Fitness has named Andy Mellor as finance director, reporting to CEO Richard Millman and joining Brian Davidson and Warwick Ley of RooGreen Ventures LLP on the main board of the group.

Mellor’s is the last of the external director appointments to the company as part of the business improvement strategy implemented by Davidson and Ley upon their arrival last December, which was further enhanced by the appointment of Millman as CEO in February. Davidson and Ley will remain close to the business in their roles as non-executive directors.

Mellor brings several years of successful leadership experience within both the finance and commercial functions, specifically in the area of fast-changing multi-site retail operations.

Four new appointments for Right Directions

Four new members of staff have started work at Right Directions Management, which assists operators in creating environmental and health and safety management systems, as well as managing Sport England’s quality scheme Quest and ukactive’s Code of Practice.

The quarter are Sue Popham, Andy Whilde, Sian Wheeler and Kelly Joice.
Popham and Whilde will take up posts as quality and health and safety managers, while Wheeler will take up a role as a customer service manager. Joyce, who has recently graduated with a sports therapy degree, has joined the Quest team to help with administration of the quality scheme for sport and leisure.

Popham brings 20 years of leisure experience to the role, having worked across the industry for private health club operators, privately managed local authority facilities and local authority and trust-managed centres, latterly for Chase Leisure Centre and Cannock Park Golf Course.

TRX adds Spooner to commercial team

Functional training supplier TRX has appointed Mel Spooner as UK & Ireland commercial manager and strategic accounts lead EMEA. The appointment marks an increase in momentum for TRX within the UK as the brand sets out to deliver a new, bespoke strategic plan for large multi-site customers.

Spooner will be working with all major operators and will also be responsible for driving UK TRX Education and launching the training platform, TRX TEAM TRAINING.