Innovations - IHRSA

| last Rep |
I’m particularly pleased, this month, to introduce the four new
members of IHRSA’s board of directors. They are: Richard Bilton,
the president of Companhia Athletica; Brent J. Darden, the co-owner
and general manager of the TELOS Fitness Center; Scott Gillespie,
the president of Saco Sport and Fitness; and Carol Nalevanko, the
CEO of DMB Sports Club, Ltd.
Each year, the seating of new directors marks the
advent of a process of both education and reflection.
The incoming members begin to learn, in much
greater detail than they’d ever imagined, about the
huge range of products and services that IHRSA
provides… and what it takes to produce them.
I do what I can to fill them in.
I, for my part, am reminded
that IHRSA is not only an
association for, but also of,
the taxpaying health and
fitness club industry. Its volunteer
board is composed of
people very much like you,
accomplished individuals who
are dedicated to this business.
Bilton, Darden, Gillespie,
and Nalevanko need to know
about IHRSA’s product line
Tracy Powell
An IHRSA
Board Update
because, in the months and
Joe Moore
years to come, they’ll be
IHRSA President & CEO
responsible for delivering and
extending it. You need to
know more about it for a different, but equally
important, reason: it’s vital to your club’s success.
Let me fill you in:
• IHRSA helps to protect the industry by aggressively
opposing harmful legislation and business
regulation, and helps it to grow by promoting programs
and legislation that would prompt more
Americans to exercise. Last year, it monitored and
tracked more than 200 bills that would have
affected clubs.
• DVDs & MP3s: IHRSA and Healthy Learning
Videos have produced several high-quality educational
DVDs for club operators and their staffs,
including ones on Managing the Sales Team and
104 Club Business International | APRIL 2010 | www.ihrsa.org
Process, Engaging New Members in the Club, and
Increasing Membership Retention in the Health
and Fitness Industry. Audio recordings (MP3 files)
of past IHRSA convention sessions are also available
(www.ihrsastore.com).
• www.IHRSA.org: IHRSA’s Website features a
wide variety of free resources, including articles
from CBI dating back to 2002, “Best Practices,”
briefing papers on legal issues, and articles on such
critical topics as sales and marketing, programming,
member service, wellness, and retention.
• Ask an Industry Leader: In this online forum,
more than 100 of the industry’s best and brightest
respond to club operators’ most challenging
questions—free of charge (www.ihrsa.org/industry
leader).
• IHRSA Research: This section of IHRSA.org
provides members with the latest data on
virtually every aspect of the health club industry
(www.ihrsa.org/research).
• Healthclubs.com/jobs: This site offers developers
and operators an efficient, cost-effective way to
find new employees, and also provides them with
free information on compensation levels and other
human resources (HR) issues.
• Webinars: This cost-effective way for industry
professionals to remain current and competitive
provides training whenever and wherever it’s
needed. IHRSA offers a new Webinar each month
(www.ihrsa.org/webinars).
• Group Purchasing: This free program provides
IHRSA member clubs with attractive discounts on
hundreds of products and services from dozens of
vendors, including cleaning supplies, HR services,
and more (www.ihrsa.org/grouppurchasing). —|
– Joe Moore, jmoore@ihrsa.org
One Hundred Twenty Million
Members by 2010