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IHRSA's Board of Directors

Board of Directors 2009-2010

David Patchell-Evans: Chairperson
GoodLife Fitness Clubs
London, Ontario, Canada
W: davidpatchellevans.com | goodlifefitness.com

David Patchell-Evans (“Patch”) is the founder, CEO and single owner of GoodLife Fitness, with 200 fitness clubs, 8,000 staff and over 550,000 members in Canada. David and GoodLife have a host of awards to their credit, most notably: Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies (2003 - 2008); Consumer’s Choice Award (2001 - 2009); Most Innovative CEO of the Year; Entrepreneur of the Year; International Entrepreneur of the Year, Special Citation; and the Canadian Medical Association’s Medal of Honor for his dedication to autism research.


Rick Beusman
Saw Mill Club
Mount Kisco, NY
W: sawmillclub.com

Rick Beusman is the president of Saw Mill Sports Management, which owns and operates four multi-sport health clubs in the metro New York area. Saw Mill Sports Management was a founding member of IHRSA, and has a long and active history of involvement in the health club industry. Rick has been involved in the multi-sport business in various capacities for the past 30 years, beginning with a part-time maintenance job in high school and including positions in membership sales, fitness, food service and general management.


Lynne Brick
Brick Bodies Fitness Services, Inc.
Cockeysville, MD
W: brickbodies.com

A former shock trauma nurse, Lynne Brick is the owner and brand agent of Brick Bodies Fitness Services, Inc., which owns and operates a chain of coed Brick Bodies and women-only Lynne Brick’s health clubs in Baltimore, Maryland. She was named the 2004 Ernst & Young Maryland Entrepreneur of the Year and in 2008 was the first woman to be inducted into the Baltimore County Chamber of Commerce Business Hall of Fame. Lynne is a featured speaker at many industry events and is a technical advisor for Les Mills International. Named IDEA’s Instructor of the Year in 1990, she has starred in over a dozen exercise videos.


Susan Cooper
Body Business Health Club & Spa
Austin, TX
W: bodybusiness.com

Susan Cooper is the founder and owner of BodyBusiness Health Clubs & Spas in Austin, Texas. Under her leadership, BodyBusiness has grown from an aerobics studio in 1984 to two full-service health clubs and spas. The company has won seven Nova 7 Awards for excellence in service and programming and was voted best health club in Austin in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. The Austin Business Journal named BodyBusiness one of the top 25 women owned businesses ranked by gross annual revenue in 2004 and 2005. A former Nike-sponsored fitness athlete, Susan was the first female president of THRSA. She has traveled the world training fitness professionals through BodyBusiness Educational Services and Training. Susan has produced four instructional body-sculpting videos and holds certifications from ACE, ACSM, IAR, and AFAA. In 2006, she was named one of the ten fittest people in Austin by Austin Fit Magazine.


Art Curtis
Millennium Partners Sports Club Management, LLC
Boston, MA
W: millenniumptrs.com/sportsclubs.cfm

Dr. Art Curtis has led Millennium Partners Sports Club Management as CEO since the company’s inception in 2006. Just prior, he served as a consultant to its parent company, Millennium Partners. His high executive roles have included CEO of Stonewater, a national consolidation of more than 20 day spas, and COO of Wellbridge, at the time the nation’s fourth largest operator of multipurpose athletic clubs and spas. Additional significant experience in the fitness industry includes: Director of Education, Research and Program Development for US Health, Inc., and Vice President of American Health Management and Consulting Corporation, where he developed corporate fitness facilities for Fortune 100 companies. Art received his Ph.D. in applied physiology from the University of Maryland. While completing his graduate degree, which was funded by research grants from the Department of the Navy and Maryland Sports Medicine Center, he served as a strength and conditioning consultant to the Washington Redskins. He also holds master’s and bachelor’s degrees in business administration from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, which he attended on an athletic scholarship for football and was an all-conference selection in both football and lacrosse. Art is a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, and has held appointments at the graduate schools at both the University of Maryland and American University in Washington, D.C.


Kilian Fisher
ILAM
Clane, Co. Kildare, Ireland
W: ilam.ie

Kilian Fisher is the CEO of ILAM, The Industry Body for Sports, Fitness, Aquatic Facilities, Spas & Wellness in Ireland, and the managing director of ILAM Consultancy Services. Born and raised in Dublin, he began in the industry 30 years ago as a swimming teacher and coach. At the age of 24, Kilian moved to London where he gained a range of qualifications and experience, including obtaining a certificate and diploma in sport and recreation management, a diploma in marketing and a post-graduate diploma in management studies. During his 12 years in London, he managed a group of six fitness centers. Kilian has experience working at the national and European levels with a wide range of industry, government and other organizations. In 2007, he joined the IHRSA European Council as one of its founding members and was also admitted as a member of the Institute of Directors in Ireland. He is a founding board member of the European Confederation of Outdoor Employers, which is looking at standards in the outdoor sector and has been instrumental in developing the fitness qualification standards for Europe. Fisher also led the development of ILAM White Flag Award for Spa & Leisure, which is the quality club/facility certification standard in Ireland.


David Hardy
Franvest Capital Partners
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
W: franvest.ca

David Hardy was the president of Club Fit, a chain of clubs in Edmonton, Canada, until 2008, when the company was sold to a private equity firm. He maintains an investment in the new company, International Fitness Holdings Inc. (IFH), and serves as a consultant and on the company’s board of directors. IFH currently operates 19 clubs with more than 65,000 members in Alberta, Canada. In 2005, David founded the Fitness Industry Council of Canada (FIC), the not-for-profit trade association that represents the commercial fitness industry in Canada. He is currently the president of Franvest Capital Partners Inc., a private investment company seeking to make investments in the fitness club industry in the United States. An avid skier, water skier and cyclist, David holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Toronto, and is a Certified Business Intermediary. He and his wife, Erin, have four children.


Sandy Hoeffer
Western Athletic Clubs
San Francisco, CA
W: westernathleticclubs.com

A 25-year industry veteran, Sandy Hoeffer provides consulting services related to the design, development and operation of full-service athletic and fitness clubs. She travels extensively and has served as an on-site consultant/analyst to club operators in Ireland, Mexico, Canada and Australia. Previously, as Vice President of Western Athletic Clubs, her responsibilities included new club development, renovations, employee development and training. As part of her experience managing start-up clubs and acquisitions, she has also been responsible for sales, marketing, hiring, member retention, operating and capital budgets, operating policies and procedures. Sandy is a former member of the Board of Directors of California Clubs of Distinction. Outside of the industry, she currently volunteers at (and has served as president of the board of directors of) Telegraph Hill Neighborhood Center, a nonprofit agency serving low-income and at-risk youth, families and seniors in San Francisco. Her community outreach also includes volunteer experience with Guide Dogs for the Blind, American Cancer Society, Project Open Hand and local arts organizations.


Bill McBride
Club One, Inc.
San Francisco, CA
W: clubone.com

Bill McBride has worked in virtually all aspects of club sales, management and operations. In 2006, he was promoted by Club One, Inc. from his position of vice president, commercial clubs to COO. Prior to joining Club One, Bill was the senior vice president of sales & business development for The Sport & Health Company. He has served as president of the board of directors for MACMA, was a contributing faculty member of Club Success Magazine and currently serves on ACE’s Industry Advisory Panel, the Wellness Health Education Advisory Board, and Club Industry's Fitness Business Pro Advisory Panel. Bill is originally from North Carolina and graduated with a bachelor’s of science degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing from East Carolina University.


Mike Raymond
Curves International, Inc.
Woodway, TX
W: curves.com

Mike Raymond is the president of Curves International, Inc., a position he assumed in 2005. Prior to that, he served as the company’s senior vice president of marketing. He joined the company in 2002. Mike’s first exposure to Curves was as a franchisee. His wife, Beth, successfully operated a club in Kirkwood, Missouri, opening in 2001 and building to 400 members before the family relocated to Texas. Mike has over 25 years of marketing experience working for major marketers and advertising agencies. In addition to his work for Curves, Mike is a board member for Vanguard College Preparatory School, the Chairman of the Lake Shore Baptist Church Deaconate, the head of the Finance Committee for Lake Shore Baptist Church, a member of the Waco Chamber of Commerce board of directors, and a member of the Cameron Park Zoo Board of Directors. Mike holds a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and an MBA from Northwestern University's Graduate School of Management (marketing/finance concentration).


Chuck Runyon
Anytime Fitness
Hastings, MN
W: anytimefitness.com

From the inception of Anytime Fitness, Chuck Runyon has been involved in virtually every facet of the business -- including strategic planning, operations, training, franchise development, and marketing. Honored as a John McCarthy Industry Visionary of the Year (2009), Runyon has earned a reputation for his creativity and innovation. Under his leadership, Anytime Fitness has been at the forefront of new industry trends – like integrated billing and security systems, and 24/7 access to clubs – and grown into an international powerhouse with nearly 1,300 clubs in 48 states and five countries. "For most of our franchisees," Runyon says, "their first exposure to Anytime Fitness was as a member. More than half of our club owners now own multiple locations. To me, that says our people are satisfied, successful and love what they’re doing."


Bob Shoulders
Fayetteville Athletic Club
Fayetteville, AR
W: fayac.com

Bob Shoulders is the owner of the Fayetteville Athletic Club in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Since opening in 1995, the club has responded to the rapid growth of the Northwest Arkansas region by growing to a 100,000 square foot facility on a nine-acre campus encompassing a primary fitness area along with a tennis complex, multiple pools, a health and wellness clinic, a day spa, a restaurant and a children’s center. Along with his passion for sports, fitness and golf, Bob is very involved in his community, serving on numerous boards and assisting with various charitable causes. He and his wife, Katherine, have two teenage sons, Nick and Patrick.


Kay Yuspeh
The Elite Fitness and Racquet Clubs
Brookfield, WI
W: eliteclubs.com

Kay Yuspeh started writing a newsletter for a tennis club in 1974, and a year later was the club’s general manager. She ran that club for 12 years before buying her own tennis club. She currently buys existing tennis clubs and converts them to multipurpose clubs. She currently owns 4 family-friendly facilities. Kay was the first executive director of the Greater Milwaukee Indoor Tennis Association (GMITA), and is a founding member of Envisions, a women’s business group. She is a recipient of the Governor's Trailblazer Award for women business owners in Wisconsin. She has also received the Bill Letwin Tennis award from the Wisconsin Tennis Association, which is the organization’s highest honor for dedication and furthering the growth of tennis.


Gene LaMott: Ex-Officio
TW Holdings
Coto de Caza, CA

Gene LaMott is a 29-year veteran of the industry. Over the course of his career, he has built fitness equipment in his father’s sheet-metal shop and owned seven Gold’s Gym franchises in the Portland, Oregon area. Gene is the former president and CEO of Gold’s Gym International, Inc. (GGI), one of the largest coed club companies in the world. Under his leadership, GGI grew into a robust entity with over 600 clubs in 43 states and 27 countries, serving more than 2.5 million members worldwide. Currently, LaMott is chairman of TW Holdings, Inc. and lives in California.



Special Advisor Latin America

Richard Bilton
Companhia Athletica
Sao Paulo, Brazil
W: ciaathletica.com.br

Since Richard Bilton joined Companhia Athletica in 1988 as a partner and CFO, the company has grown from one to 15 clubs in Brazil. He became president of the Companhia Athletica Group of Companies when a holding company was formed ten years ago. Richard has participated in IHRSA conventions since 1989, as a speaker in the Latin American Forum in 2008, and as ambassador to Latin America since 2008. He is an accomplished horse rider, having won state and national amateur show jumping championships.