Daniel Lawrence is a British Physiotherapist with a clinical background in both sport and general healthcare settings, both within the national health service and private sector. He has also worked in education at a variety of levels, continues to lecture internationally, and has previously published an academic text titled ‘Lower Limb Tendinopathy’. Daniel has also catalogued much of his own learning and teaching on his YouTube channel ‘The Physio Channel’ which continues to serve as a great resource for therapists around the world. Daniel is currently serving as European Director of Education for a large international company called Implus which includes the popular RockTape and Trigger Point brands. When not engaged in some form of physical therapy related activity he can be found fixing things on his land in Cornwall where he lives with his wife and two children.

Steven leads the strategic development of the physical activity sector to support the growth of ukactive’s members. From addressing issues of infrastructure, public leisure reform and capital investment, to modelling sector growth and innovation, Steven has been instrumental in bringing sector leaders and partners together to accelerate change.

After three decades David is well known for his unique fitness industry knowledge. Providing media commentary, articles, along with public speaking to spark debate within and create support for the sector at large. David and his team are recognised as the go-to for market trends, data and insight built from the annual National Fitness Audit. Passionate about Active Ageing and Climate Change David is at the forefront of new thinking on these subjects along with the new Collective Knowledge for the industry.

Paul Kuebler is an entrepreneur, health and fitness ambassador, and now currently serves as VP of International Development of Southern England for Orangetheory Fitness. In his role, Paul is responsible for developing and expanding studios in the UK. Paul was previously the Area Developer for Orangetheory, where he developed 19 studios in Washington State in the U.S., assisting the brand with its global expansion and growth.

Paul has experience in a variety of disciplines including financial operations, profitability analysis, UK and European operations, budgeting and planning, business optimization, and health & wellness fitness services. He also serves on several boards for various health and leisure organizations.

Paul builds upon his many years of CEO and COO experience as an owner and franchisee for this new role as an Orangetheory franchise employee, focusing on growth opportunities for the brand while delivering the best possible experience for Orangetheory members.

Orangetheory Fitness is a 1-hour group personal training workout broken into intervals of cardio and strength training scientifically designed to torch fat, tone muscles, and increase energy based on each member's personal heart rate data. Coaches lead each class using a variety of equipment including treadmills, rowing machines, suspension training and free weights, getting members’ heart rates in the target Orange Zone for 12 minutes or more to produce the Orange Effect. Simply put - it’s the world’s smartest workout that keeps our members burning calories long after their workout ends.

Mike Dean heads up franchise sales for F45s European expansion. He was made aware of the brand 4 years ago on a trip to Australia and has not looked back since. Based in their London HQ his primary focus is to source top quality franchisees and studios to match them with.

Rachel Fairweather is author of the best selling book for passionate massage therapists – ‘Massage Fusion: The Jing Method for the treatment of chronic pain”.

She is also the dynamic co-founder and Director of Jing Advanced Massage Training (www.jingmassage.com), a company providing degree level, hands-on and online training for all who are passionate about massage

Rachel has over 30 years experience in the industry working as an advanced therapist and trainer, first in New York and now throughout the UK. Due to her extensive experience, undeniable passion and intense dedication, Rachel is a sought after international guest lecturer, writes regularly for professional trade magazines, and has twice received awards for outstanding achievement in her field.

Rachel holds a degree in Psychology, a Postgraduate Diploma in Social Work, an AOS in Massage Therapy and is a New York licensed massage therapist.

Internationally sought-after Sales Trainer and Mentor, Elite Closer, Author of ‘Open With A Close’ & Public Speaker.

I’ve spent my entire working life in sales, from cold-calling & knocking on doors at the age of 18, to negotiating large contracts in the corporate, retail and expert space (human to human, of course!)

My mission is to change the way the world sells and closes, using the perfect balance of emotion and logic, sales experience, human psychology and a tried and tested formula.

It became my mission to create a sales process that’s congruent, adaptable, proven to work, and that FEELS good!

And that’s when the ‘Open With A Close’ Philosophy was born.

My book Open With A Close has now been sold in over 15 countries around the world, with thousands of people implementing the philosophy to generate more leads and close more sales.

Nick James and I co-founded the Elite Closing Academy, a place for Entrepreneurs, Business Owners and Sales Teams to dramatically increase their sales without coming across as pushy or manipulative.

We offer certified, professional sales training, coaching and mentoring packages to sales teams and individuals around the world.

Daniel Lawrence is a British Physiotherapist with a clinical background in both sport and general healthcare settings, both within the national health service and private sector. He has also worked in education at a variety of levels, continues to lecture internationally, and has previously published an academic text titled ‘Lower Limb Tendinopathy’. Daniel has also catalogued much of his own learning and teaching on his YouTube channel ‘The Physio Channel’ which continues to serve as a great resource for therapists around the world. Daniel is currently serving as European Director of Education for a large international company called Implus which includes the popular RockTape and Trigger Point brands. When not engaged in some form of physical therapy related activity he can be found fixing things on his land in Cornwall where he lives with his wife and two children.

Mike is a Registered Osteopath with over 20 years experience in the Health and Fitness Industry. Mike started his own training company in 2003 specialising in Health, Fitness and manual therapy training (Movement Therapy Education) and also lecture's on the FdSc and BSc Sports Therapy programmes at University College Birmingham and throughout the world in Anatomy and Intrinsic Biomechanics Coaching. Mike is a lead tutor/instructor for Elite Therapy Education, Biomechanics Education, Oxford School of Sports Massage (OSSM), RockTape/RockBlade and NAQI and regularly teaches courses for Premier League and Championship football clubs. Mike has held consultancy roles with Boots, Pera Products, Startrite, Brytespark and Convatec playing a key role in the research and development of new products and education systems. Mike regularly presents at conferences including Therapy Expo, FitPro, International Fitness Showcase, Good Health Show and the IOC world conference for Injury Prevention in Monaco. Mike run's Movement Therapy Clinics in Birmingham where his team put all that Movement Therapy Education teach in to practice.

Rob is the Fitness Director at Third Space, leading all aspects of Fitness & Personal Training for the group. Rob has a wealth of experience in several markets having held senior roles at Holmes Place, Virgin Active, David Lloyd, and Next Gen Australia. His passion for developing people and creating world class member experiences has enabled him and the team to produce a culture at Third Space that enables members and team members alike to be their Personal Best.

Phil has over 35 years management experience in the leisure sector, including running sports, fitness and hospitality venues in continental Europe and the UK. Until May 2021, he was the CEO at Jubilee Hall Trust, a multi-award-winning charity operating four leisure centres in central London. He was also a non-executive Director at ukactive for five years, and chaired their Membership Council.

In November 2021, Phil was elected as Chair of CLUK, which represents 115 non-profit distributing trusts who between them run almost 4000 sports and cultural facilities, with a combined turnover in excess of £2billion.

Phil is a Chartered Fellow of CIMSPA and a Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Directors.

Richard manages the Sport and Recreation Alliance’s research and development function. In this role, Richard has led the establishment of the team and the integration of research, data, and insight into the Alliance's day-to-day practices; giving the Alliance with a unique voice with which to advocate on the sector's behalf to policy makers at Westminster.

A key part of the Alliance's strategy is to "champion the economic, social, health, and wellbeing benefits of sport and recreation" for its 300+ members. Richard leads in supporting Alliance members with training and in-house services to capture and articulate their social value. In-so-doing, he supports the Alliance's effort to increase access and understanding of social value evaluation.

Chris Donkin is London Sport’s Strategic Lead for Facilities and Urban Spaces, which sees Chris lead on London Sports work with partners to make efficient use of both traditional and non-traditional spaces across the capital to promote increased opportunities for Londoners to engage in Physical activity. Chris joined London Sport in June 2020, having spent ten years at The Lawn Tennis Association as a Facilities Investment Manager and Facility Project Manager for London. Chris is passionate about the role that sport and physical activity can have on improving lives and communities. Outside of work Chris is a keen sportsman and follower of Sheffield Wednesday.

Dale is a regular educator/presenter at Health and Rehabilitation conferences such as Therapy Expo in the UK. He is a musculoskeletal Physiotherapist, Clinician, Ex-University Lecturer, Researcher and Fitness Enthusiast.

Dale is an ex-Army Physio, who specialises in Manual Therapy and Exercise Prescription. He focusses on injury prevention, Functional Movement Screening and using movement as medicine. He has a special interest in injury prevention for Combat Sports, CrossFit and the Military.

Dale has been using KT Tape for 10 years for both injury prevention and rehabilitation. He regularly uses taping at CrossFit competitions from grass-roots to the professional athletes.

Dale is a champion for exercise, as both a Yoga teacher and CrossFit coach he understands how to bring balance to the nervous system. Using a holistic approach of Breathing, Nutrition, Acupuncture, Pilates and corrective exercise to help his clients with complex health requirements or athletic performance.

Dale is also the Physio for the charity, “Walking with the wounded” and CIC “Positive adventure,” both of which work with Military Veterans.

Tim Hollingsworth is the Chief Executive of Sport England, the agency responsible for delivering sport and physical activity at community level across England. He has held the role since November 2018.

For seven years prior to this, Tim was Chief Executive at the British Paralympic Association, the National Paralympic Committee for the United Kingdom. He also served as Secretary General for ParalympicsGB at four Paralympic Games, during which time the team recorded its best ever medal performance at both a summer and winter Games.

Prior to that, Tim was first Director of Policy & Communications and then Chief Operating Officer at UK Sport. Previously, Tim worked as Director of a strategic communications consultancy, HBL Media, as Head of Corporate Communications at Granada Media plc, and Head of Media Relations at the CBI.

Tim is a Council Member of the University of Bath, a Trustee of the Football Foundation and a Member of the International Paralympic Committee’s Paralympic Games Committee. In January 2022, Tim was appointed as one of the Government’s Disability Access Ambassadors, advising on opportunities for improvements in sport and activity services and facilities for disabled people. He holds Honorary Degrees from both Bath and Exeter University as well as a master’s degree in Drama from Exeter. Tim received an OBE for services to sport in the 2017 Queen’s New Year Honours List.

Peter’s role at Leicester City involves designing and implementing the strength and conditioning programmes for first team players. Peter’s philosophy is one that follows a ‘performance backwards’ approach and he therefore works closely with the coaching staff to ensure the off-pitch training is closely aligned to the on-pitch performance markers and outcomes. As a wider part of an MDT, he also provides support during the rehabilitation process. Peter’s previous roles include working at the EIS and Gloucester Rugby.

As CEO of the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity, Tara Dillon leads the institute's headline work in professionalising UK sport and leisure and transforming the workforce development opportunities of those who work in the sector. Tara was appointed as CEO in January 2015, before which she was interim chief operating officer whilst on secondment from IQL UK. Previously, Tara has held a variety of senior management roles within the leisure sector, combining 12 years working in local authorities and 9 years in the private sector, culminating in a customer-focused commercial role as executive director of IQL UK.

Tim Hollingsworth is the Chief Executive of Sport England, the agency responsible for delivering sport and physical activity at community level across England. He has held the role since November 2018.

For seven years prior to this, Tim was Chief Executive at the British Paralympic Association, the National Paralympic Committee for the United Kingdom. He also served as Secretary General for ParalympicsGB at four Paralympic Games, during which time the team recorded its best ever medal performance at both a summer and winter Games.

Prior to that, Tim was first Director of Policy & Communications and then Chief Operating Officer at UK Sport. Previously, Tim worked as Director of a strategic communications consultancy, HBL Media, as Head of Corporate Communications at Granada Media plc, and Head of Media Relations at the CBI.

Tim is a Council Member of the University of Bath, a Trustee of the Football Foundation and a Member of the International Paralympic Committee’s Paralympic Games Committee. In January 2022, Tim was appointed as one of the Government’s Disability Access Ambassadors, advising on opportunities for improvements in sport and activity services and facilities for disabled people. He holds Honorary Degrees from both Bath and Exeter University as well as a master’s degree in Drama from Exeter. Tim received an OBE for services to sport in the 2017 Queen’s New Year Honours List.

Elaine Briggs, Chief Education & Partnerships Officer at Future Fit Group and Managing Director at Future Active Workforce CIC, has over 25 years’ experience in the education sector having begun her career in the fitness industry as a lifeguard, swimming teacher and aerobics instructor before realising that her passion and talent lies in educating and inspiring others. Elaine is recognised as a leading voice within the industry, steering and contributing to the future direction of the fitness sector. Having worked across several sectors, training providers, and awarding organisations, she is incredibly passionate about the value of training and education for our workforce.

Leading the way in calling for a more holistic and community-based approach for our sector, Elaine recognises that workforce development of today will need to ensure individuals can deliver a fully rounded service. Believing resolutely that collaboration and leadership is key for expanding our sectors facilities to provide holistic services for our communities, she drives forward her passion by working with industry leaders and employer partners to identify the essential skills and tools to achieve this. Through meaningful partnerships, Elaine looks to create sustainable training, programmes and solutions that will raise a professional and credible workforce who are highly skilled and equipped to undertake the vital role our sector plays in people's health.

Huw is the CEO of ukactive, the not-for-profit health body which represents the physical activity sector and has a mission to get More People, More Active, More Often. He took the role in July 2019 following three years as Director of Public Affairs, Communications and Research. During his ukactive career, Huw has played a key role in shaping ukactive’s strategy and business plan, as well as leading the organisation’s engagement with government and wider stakeholders. In 2017, Huw was named Leisure Sector Champion for the Department of Work & Pensions disability taskforce, aiming to ensure that the work of the sector in the disability space is aligned to the DWP’s objectives. Previously, Huw was the Public Affairs lead at British Tennis, working across both the Lawn Tennis Association and The Tennis Foundation. He has also worked for both the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Olympic Delivery Authority during the delivery of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

John is a GP with a keen passion for lifestyle medicine. He completed his medical training at the University of East Anglia, having previously completed a Cell Biology BSc. (Hons) at Durham University. John has always been a keen sportsman which set him up to be interested in sport and exercise medicine. This fuelled a passion for exercise medicine which incorporates using exercise as a method to cure, treat and prevent many non-communicable diseases. He became a director of a group called Move Eat Treat, worked for Public Health Wiltshire and has organised several conferences around physical activity and lifestyle medicine for doctors and medical students including the inaugural RCGP Lifestyle Medicine Conference 2017.

John is a keen sports man having represented both his Universities at 1st team football and completed a sub 3-hour Marathon in Berlin. He still plays football every Saturday and enjoys running with the occasional charity run as well as various aspects of strength and conditioning training.

Dale is a regular educator/presenter at Health and Rehabilitation conferences such as Therapy Expo in the UK. He is a musculoskeletal Physiotherapist, Clinician, Ex-University Lecturer, Researcher and Fitness Enthusiast.

Dale is an ex-Army Physio, who specialises in Manual Therapy and Exercise Prescription. He focusses on injury prevention, Functional Movement Screening and using movement as medicine. He has a special interest in injury prevention for Combat Sports, CrossFit and the Military.

Dale has been using KT Tape for 10 years for both injury prevention and rehabilitation. He regularly uses taping at CrossFit competitions from grass-roots to the professional athletes.

Dale is a champion for exercise, as both a Yoga teacher and CrossFit coach he understands how to bring balance to the nervous system. Using a holistic approach of Breathing, Nutrition, Acupuncture, Pilates and corrective exercise to help his clients with complex health requirements or athletic performance.

Dale is also the Physio for the charity, “Walking with the wounded” and CIC “Positive adventure,” both of which work with Military Veterans.

Lynda Keane, MSc in Soft Tissue Therapy & Exercise Rehabilitation, PGC Sport & Exercise Rehabilitation, BSc (hons) in Rehabilitation & Injury Prevention, started her career as a swimming instructor and coach, she quickly added fitness and rehabilitation to her aquatic passion.

With over 28 years’ experience in the fitness industry Lynda is an international presenter on the effect water has on connective tissue including all aspects of Fascial exercise and stretching, hypermobility and lymphedema. She also teaches aquatic therapy at 2 UK Universities. Lynda is looking to continue with her research in looking at the effect moving and stretching in water has on the myofascial System.

Daniel is the Founder and CEO of Brandwave Marketing. Brandwave is one of the world's leading sports marketing consultancies and the chosen agency of many of the industry's leading brands including Adidas, Reebok, Les Mills, Life Fitness, and Precore. With a lifetime spent teaching and competing in sports himself, Daniel is a passionate supporter and respected speaker in the European sports industry. Daniel also sits on the UK Sport & Outdoor Forum think tank. Growing up in Ireland, Daniel completed a Degree in marketing and a Masters Degree in Business Studies. Following on from that, Daniel worked for 4 years as European Marketing Director for the iconic American surf brand, O'Neill.Daniel founded Brandwave 12 years ago and now spends his time consulting on B2B and B2C strategy and creative for key clients.

Jak Phillips is a writer, marketer and presenter who specialises in the global fitness industry. Having written for brands including TIME Magazine, VICE and a slew of leading fitness titles, Jak is adept at unearthing trends and bringing them to life by telling the stories that shape them. Based in London, Jak’s role as Global Content & PR Director for Les Mills International sees him work with leading fitness brands and clubs from around the world, offering rare insight into what it takes to win in the modern fitness industry. He is also a qualified personal trainer and BODYPUMP Instructor.

Daniel Lawrence is a British Physiotherapist with a clinical background in both sport and general healthcare settings, both within the national health service and private sector. He has also worked in education at a variety of levels, continues to lecture internationally, and has previously published an academic text titled ‘Lower Limb Tendinopathy’. Daniel has also catalogued much of his own learning and teaching on his YouTube channel ‘The Physio Channel’ which continues to serve as a great resource for therapists around the world. Daniel is currently serving as European Director of Education for a large international company called Implus which includes the popular RockTape and Trigger Point brands. When not engaged in some form of physical therapy related activity he can be found fixing things on his land in Cornwall where he lives with his wife and two children.

Mike is a Registered Osteopath with over 20 years experience in the Health and Fitness Industry. Mike started his own training company in 2003 specialising in Health, Fitness and manual therapy training (Movement Therapy Education) and also lecture's on the FdSc and BSc Sports Therapy programmes at University College Birmingham and throughout the world in Anatomy and Intrinsic Biomechanics Coaching. Mike is a lead tutor/instructor for Elite Therapy Education, Biomechanics Education, Oxford School of Sports Massage (OSSM), RockTape/RockBlade and NAQI and regularly teaches courses for Premier League and Championship football clubs. Mike has held consultancy roles with Boots, Pera Products, Startrite, Brytespark and Convatec playing a key role in the research and development of new products and education systems. Mike regularly presents at conferences including Therapy Expo, FitPro, International Fitness Showcase, Good Health Show and the IOC world conference for Injury Prevention in Monaco. Mike run's Movement Therapy Clinics in Birmingham where his team put all that Movement Therapy Education teach in to practice.

Internationally sought-after Sales Trainer and Mentor, Elite Closer, Author of ‘Open With A Close’ & Public Speaker.

I’ve spent my entire working life in sales, from cold-calling & knocking on doors at the age of 18, to negotiating large contracts in the corporate, retail and expert space (human to human, of course!)

My mission is to change the way the world sells and closes, using the perfect balance of emotion and logic, sales experience, human psychology and a tried and tested formula.

It became my mission to create a sales process that’s congruent, adaptable, proven to work, and that FEELS good!

And that’s when the ‘Open With A Close’ Philosophy was born.

My book Open With A Close has now been sold in over 15 countries around the world, with thousands of people implementing the philosophy to generate more leads and close more sales.

Nick James and I co-founded the Elite Closing Academy, a place for Entrepreneurs, Business Owners and Sales Teams to dramatically increase their sales without coming across as pushy or manipulative.

We offer certified, professional sales training, coaching and mentoring packages to sales teams and individuals around the world.

Ashleigh joined Versus Arthritis, the leading Arthritis UK charity in 2021. Since then she has been responsible for leading the Sport England funded physical activity face to face programme, testing new innovative approaches to empower people with musculoskeletal conditions to be active, working collaboratively with a number of partner organisations, including; The Richmond Group of Charities, Active Partnerships, Local Authorities including numerous voluntary sector organisations. She also leads the evaluation on the programme in partnership with London Metropolitan University. All the physical activity work incorporates behaviour change principles and is built on insights from people with lived experience of arthritis.

Aneika is a digital project manager at Versus Arthritis, leading the let’s move programme designed to support people with arthritis to get active in their homes at a level that is right for them. The project questions how we leverage digital tools and services to self-management healthcare for patients.

Angela Foster is a Nutritionist, Health & Performance Coach and Host of the top rated podcast, High Performance Health.

As a former partner in a large law firm, Angela is no stranger to the demands of long working hours and a high-pressure environment. Angela left the world of corporate law after a serious illness in 2014 and used integrative health practices and biohacking to rebuild her physical and mental health.

Through her coaching programmes and online membership, The Female Biohacker Collective, Angela’s mission is to educate and inspire you to become the CEO of your health and live a vibrant, healthy, and limitless life.

Jason is the Director of Nutrition at the Advanced Coaching Academy and an Advisory Board Member and Shareholder at LVL Wellbeing, Dubai. Alongside being an accomplished sports nutritionist, Jason's strength and conditioning credentials have enabled him to work with professional footballers at Millwall and Brentford. Jason delivers performance workshops across London, Copenhagen, Dubai and Amsterdam, consults for the NHS on fat loss strategy and curates wellbeing experiences for corporate teams.

Josh is the Third Space Head of Education.

His role is to educate, assess and progress their personal trainers whilst ensuring quality across the group.

Tim is an Elite Personal Trainer at Third Space. Tim has been a personal trainer for 10 years. He believes in evidence-based methods to achieve client goals - from muscle and weight loss targets, competitive sports to general lifestyle improvements. He has a degree in nutrition and post-graduate in sports nutrition.

Dale is a regular educator/presenter at Health and Rehabilitation conferences such as Therapy Expo in the UK. He is a musculoskeletal Physiotherapist, Clinician, Ex-University Lecturer, Researcher and Fitness Enthusiast.

Dale is an ex-Army Physio, who specialises in Manual Therapy and Exercise Prescription. He focusses on injury prevention, Functional Movement Screening and using movement as medicine. He has a special interest in injury prevention for Combat Sports, CrossFit and the Military.

Dale has been using KT Tape for 10 years for both injury prevention and rehabilitation. He regularly uses taping at CrossFit competitions from grass-roots to the professional athletes.

Dale is a champion for exercise, as both a Yoga teacher and CrossFit coach he understands how to bring balance to the nervous system. Using a holistic approach of Breathing, Nutrition, Acupuncture, Pilates and corrective exercise to help his clients with complex health requirements or athletic performance.

Dale is also the Physio for the charity, “Walking with the wounded” and CIC “Positive adventure,” both of which work with Military Veterans.

Dan is a founding member and CEO of Parkour Generations, the multi-award winning international professional organisation for the dynamic movement discipline of parkour.

Dan has studied practical movement and physical fitness his entire life, with an elite background in fighting arts before he discovered parkour in 2002. In addition to establishing the world’s largest professional organisation for the discipline, Parkour Generations, and the world’s first recognised National Governing Body, Parkour UK, Dan also created the A.D.A.P.T® parkour coaching certifications, which are now the globally recognised coach education for parkour practitioners having been delivered in more than 30 countries, as well as the groundbreaking Parkour Programs® and Parkour Fitness®, now the recognised certifications for fitness professionals to access parkour movement and fitness knowledge, and the Parkour For Schools Programme.

His programmes have been accredited by ACE, NASM, AFAA, YMCA Awards, 1st4Sports, FIT and more, as well as being the centrepiece for events such as IDEAFIT and Paleof(X) in the USA, Fitpro Live, World Power Show and Leisure Industry Week in the UK, Asian Fitness Convention, Barefoot Training Summit, IFEX and more.

His articles have been featured in publications ranging from The Telegraph and The Times to Men’s Fitness, GQ and Timeout, and he has appeared across numerous world-leading podcasts such as FatBurning Man, Barbell Shrugged, SpartanUP and more, and presented at hundreds of conferences, summits, expos and events.

Dan travels extensively helping others learn how to coach and to move, and regularly gives keynotes, presentations and seminars around the world with a particular interest in encouraging a holistic approach to living and training through integrated paradigms that engender flow and mindfulness and encourage positive engagement with fear and risk to understand and improve the self.

Co-Founder of the HYROX race concept and head of HYROX DACH. Jacob took his 20+ years of experience in sports and fitness and was part of the team which founded HYROX, The World Series of Fitness Racing, which operates fitness races across Europe & the USA with attendance of up to 4,000+ athletes per event.

Maarten Hermans grew up in the Netherlands, a country without white water. Yet this did not stop him from living his Olympic dream as a white water slalom kayaker. His strength coach Paul Venner (Founder of Ultimateinstability) introduced him to the contextual coordinative training with the Aquabags and Aquaballs. This more holistic and functional way of strength training allowed Maarten to have a better transfer of strength and to gain that extra edge over the competition.

After the Olympic Games 2016, Maarten could not understand why this method and products were not known to more people and he decided to help his former strength coach by taking on the position of Head of Marketing and Sales. Just over an Olympic cycle further, the Aquabags, Aquaballs are indispensable worldwide within rehab and strength & conditioning field.

We are now proud to have happy customers around the whole globe, from rehab to performance, with many world class athletes and movement professionals. The many rehab success stories and Olympic & World Champion medallists are our greatest trophy.

Elaine Briggs, Chief Education & Partnerships Officer at Future Fit Group and Managing Director at Future Active Workforce CIC, has over 25 years’ experience in the education sector having begun her career in the fitness industry as a lifeguard, swimming teacher and aerobics instructor before realising that her passion and talent lies in educating and inspiring others. Elaine is recognised as a leading voice within the industry, steering and contributing to the future direction of the fitness sector. Having worked across several sectors, training providers, and awarding organisations, she is incredibly passionate about the value of training and education for our workforce.

Leading the way in calling for a more holistic and community-based approach for our sector, Elaine recognises that workforce development of today will need to ensure individuals can deliver a fully rounded service. Believing resolutely that collaboration and leadership is key for expanding our sectors facilities to provide holistic services for our communities, she drives forward her passion by working with industry leaders and employer partners to identify the essential skills and tools to achieve this. Through meaningful partnerships, Elaine looks to create sustainable training, programmes and solutions that will raise a professional and credible workforce who are highly skilled and equipped to undertake the vital role our sector plays in people's health.

As CEO of the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity, Tara Dillon leads the institute's headline work in professionalising UK sport and leisure and transforming the workforce development opportunities of those who work in the sector. Tara was appointed as CEO in January 2015, before which she was interim chief operating officer whilst on secondment from IQL UK. Previously, Tara has held a variety of senior management roles within the leisure sector, combining 12 years working in local authorities and 9 years in the private sector, culminating in a customer-focused commercial role as executive director of IQL UK.

John Penny is the MD of Third Space where he has held this role for over four years overseeing operations, sales and product development strategy. John comes from a back ground of Sports Science, Coaching and Business Development and has held senior leadership role across premium high volume operations in London with multiple brands over the past fifteen years. Third Space is positioned as London's Luxury Health Club offering- inspiring members to be their personal best through outstanding experiences -and plans to expand its club portfolio further into London over the coming years.

Sue has over 30 years’ experience in the fitness industry as a group ex Instructor, PT and International Fitness presenter, developing programming and education in the UK and America for brands including TRX, TriggerPoint, and Total Gym. Throughout the pandemic Sue represented the group exercise sector, working with the government to support instructors and ensure they were able to get back teaching face to face. As part of this work Sue authored the Group Ex Support Pack and Return to Play guidelines. Sue work for instructors continues – she is currently in talks with PRS for Music to seek simpler, more cost-effective music solutions for the sector.

Oliver Patrick is a Physiologist and leading expert in lifestyle management. He speaks widely on the application of contemporary wellbeing strategies and consults to businesses and individuals globally. Oliver was Head of Physiology at Nuffield Hospitals where he co-founded and led the largest team of applied physiologists, wellbeing advisors and nutritionists in the UK. In 2009 Oliver co-founded Viavi on London’s Harley St, to deliver the most advanced health assessment and health evaluation service available globally. In his clinical role at Viavi, Oliver worked alongside each key discipline of medicine to drive accelerated health outcomes in his clients.

Alongside advanced health assessments Oliver co-founded the first Lifestyle medicine gym in Oxford, tailoring exercise and lifestyle advice to the non-exercise market. Latterly Oliver runs a corporate wellbeing consultancy service, is Clinical Director for Pillar Wellbeing, and has founded Future Practice, an industry specific education platform to drive practical coaching skills in the broader undervalued areas of lifestyle (beyond movement and nutrition) particularly stress, sleep, environmental toxicity and mindset.

A career spanning over 30yrs in the UK and Middle East, has provided Kate with expansive cross sector experience, cultivating the vision and skills to drive Orbit4.

With an extensive range of roles including EveryoneActive, Active Nation, Central YMCA, TRP and as UK Product Manager for Technogym, Kate understands the nuances and requisites of both buyers and suppliers. She brings to the team, credibility, creativity, knowledge and boundless energy, and to the role, a great network and extensive experience in gym concept design, equipment selection, and developing strategic relationships.

An entrepreneur with more than 25 years’ experience within the health and fitness sector. Highly driven business owner with a core background of sales and, product development and account management. Founder of Orbit4 and its associated platforms that offer gym operators a unique way to manage assets and track cost of ownership of fitness equipment. The platforms are now live in over 20 countries worldwide.

Daniel Lawrence is a British Physiotherapist with a clinical background in both sport and general healthcare settings, both within the national health service and private sector. He has also worked in education at a variety of levels, continues to lecture internationally, and has previously published an academic text titled ‘Lower Limb Tendinopathy’. Daniel has also catalogued much of his own learning and teaching on his YouTube channel ‘The Physio Channel’ which continues to serve as a great resource for therapists around the world. Daniel is currently serving as European Director of Education for a large international company called Implus which includes the popular RockTape and Trigger Point brands. When not engaged in some form of physical therapy related activity he can be found fixing things on his land in Cornwall where he lives with his wife and two children.

Jo heads up Key Accounts at Origin Fitness, who specialise in supplying the best in fitness

equipment and innovative gym design with expert service and support. We’ve helped organisations and businesses of all sizes get better results from their gyms and sports facilities. We supply gym equipment and apply our gym design skills right across the board, from modest personal trainer start-ups to global gym brands, local authorities to hotels, and sports clubs to CrossFit boxes.

She is passionate about health, fitness and well-being, with a wealth of commercial and management experience from both a supplier and operators’ perspective.

Sarah heads up Format at The Gym Group and is responsible for the design and development of new and existing gyms within the operator’s 200+ portfolio. Since first joining The Gym Group in 2017 as a consultant, Sarah has led several high-profile projects including the physical integration and rebrand of the Lifestyle Fitness and easyGym acquisitions, going on to join the company full time in 2019. She is currently spear heading the rollout of The Gym Group’s rebrand which will see the gym chain rebrand all their gyms in 2022. Sarah is passionate about ensuring the gym environment is accessible for all and her personal ambition is to ensure the company become industry leaders in tackling gymtimidation.

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Matteo Cerruti, is TRIB3’s Chief Experience Officer. Matteo joined TRIB3 after over twenty years of experience in the fitness industry predominately in product development and innovation within group exercise, creating and implementing products and services across multiple brands in different regions of the world and designing state-of-the art gyms and studios in gyms and boutiques.

Daniel Lawrence is a British Physiotherapist with a clinical background in both sport and general healthcare settings, both within the national health service and private sector. He has also worked in education at a variety of levels, continues to lecture internationally, and has previously published an academic text titled ‘Lower Limb Tendinopathy’. Daniel has also catalogued much of his own learning and teaching on his YouTube channel ‘The Physio Channel’ which continues to serve as a great resource for therapists around the world. Daniel is currently serving as European Director of Education for a large international company called Implus which includes the popular RockTape and Trigger Point brands. When not engaged in some form of physical therapy related activity he can be found fixing things on his land in Cornwall where he lives with his wife and two children.

Mike is a Registered Osteopath with over 20 years experience in the Health and Fitness Industry. Mike started his own training company in 2003 specialising in Health, Fitness and manual therapy training (Movement Therapy Education) and also lecture's on the FdSc and BSc Sports Therapy programmes at University College Birmingham and throughout the world in Anatomy and Intrinsic Biomechanics Coaching. Mike is a lead tutor/instructor for Elite Therapy Education, Biomechanics Education, Oxford School of Sports Massage (OSSM), RockTape/RockBlade and NAQI and regularly teaches courses for Premier League and Championship football clubs. Mike has held consultancy roles with Boots, Pera Products, Startrite, Brytespark and Convatec playing a key role in the research and development of new products and education systems. Mike regularly presents at conferences including Therapy Expo, FitPro, International Fitness Showcase, Good Health Show and the IOC world conference for Injury Prevention in Monaco. Mike run's Movement Therapy Clinics in Birmingham where his team put all that Movement Therapy Education teach in to practice.

Internationally sought-after Sales Trainer and Mentor, Elite Closer, Author of ‘Open With A Close’ & Public Speaker.

I’ve spent my entire working life in sales, from cold-calling & knocking on doors at the age of 18, to negotiating large contracts in the corporate, retail and expert space (human to human, of course!)

My mission is to change the way the world sells and closes, using the perfect balance of emotion and logic, sales experience, human psychology and a tried and tested formula.

It became my mission to create a sales process that’s congruent, adaptable, proven to work, and that FEELS good!

And that’s when the ‘Open With A Close’ Philosophy was born.

My book Open With A Close has now been sold in over 15 countries around the world, with thousands of people implementing the philosophy to generate more leads and close more sales.

Nick James and I co-founded the Elite Closing Academy, a place for Entrepreneurs, Business Owners and Sales Teams to dramatically increase their sales without coming across as pushy or manipulative.

We offer certified, professional sales training, coaching and mentoring packages to sales teams and individuals around the world.

Dale is a regular educator/presenter at Health and Rehabilitation conferences such as Therapy Expo in the UK. He is a musculoskeletal Physiotherapist, Clinician, Ex-University Lecturer, Researcher and Fitness Enthusiast.

Dale is an ex-Army Physio, who specialises in Manual Therapy and Exercise Prescription. He focusses on injury prevention, Functional Movement Screening and using movement as medicine. He has a special interest in injury prevention for Combat Sports, CrossFit and the Military.

Dale has been using KT Tape for 10 years for both injury prevention and rehabilitation. He regularly uses taping at CrossFit competitions from grass-roots to the professional athletes.

Dale is a champion for exercise, as both a Yoga teacher and CrossFit coach he understands how to bring balance to the nervous system. Using a holistic approach of Breathing, Nutrition, Acupuncture, Pilates and corrective exercise to help his clients with complex health requirements or athletic performance.

Dale is also the Physio for the charity, “Walking with the wounded” and CIC “Positive adventure,” both of which work with Military Veterans.

Jamie has nearly 20 years operational experience within the health and fitness sector. Starting with Cannons back in the early 2000’s, he has held General Management, Regional and National roles for brands including Virgin Active and Nuffield Health. Joining Hussle back in 2019, Jamie’s role is to help bring a real 'operator mindset' to the business and he has been pivotal in helping shape long-term partnerships with gyms and fitness venues across the UK.

Lawrence heads up the consumer marketing partnerships team at Hussle and is responsible for setting up landmark deals with brands such as AXA Health, The AA, BUPA, Premier Inn, McDonalds and O2. He is IPM (institute of promotional marketing) qualified, and has over 10 years experience working for loyalty and partnership agencies. Prior to Hussle he was heavily involved in implementing and managing campaigns for brands including VUE Cinema, Vodafone, Aviva, Arla Foods, and the IPM award winning Nationwide FlexOne Film Promotion.

Lead Researcher for Omega Diagnostics in Food Allergy & Intolerance. A state registered developmental Biomedical Scientist, specialising in immunology and functional medicine. Trained originally in pathology at St. Georges Medical School, London and went on to study Immunology at the University of Surrey.

Qualified for FIBMS in Haematology, MSc in Immunology for disease control and PhD in Cellular allergy & allergic mediators. A specialist in allergy and food intolerance and has been involved in extensive post doctorial research in the field of chemical mediators of allergic disease and IgG mediated inflammatory mechanisms. A Fellow of the Institute of Biomedical Science and a chartered scientist. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine

A lecturer at several universities as well as regularly holding seminars and presentations as part of the continuing professional development for practitioners. Has been involved in many research projects and have published a number of scientific papers.

Specialties: One of the most experienced and well-known Functional Medicine professionals in the UK.
Lecturer in Allergy & Food Intolerance, Salivary Hormones, Digestive Pathology, and the microbiome.

Hilary is the Strategic Lead for EmployAbility Leisure at Aspire, an initiative to create more accessible and inclusive training and workplaces for disabled people in the leisure sector. Previously, Hilary managed the InstructAbility programme at Aspire that helped hundreds of disabled people gain training and work in the sector. During this time Hilary worked with Professor Brett Smith and Dr Juliette Stebbings to undertake a research with disabled people, training providers and employers to produce a set of evidence-based Guides for the industry based on the insight gained. Hilary formed an EmployAbility strategic group which includes representatives from Activity Alliance, CIMSPA, Community Leisure UK, Sport England, ukactive and UKCoaching as well as a team of disabled people and researchers.

Colin has worked in education and skills in the sport and physical activity sector for over 20 years, he is responsible for providing leadership for the future direction of the sport and physical activity workforce, aiming to influence external stakeholders to view our sector as a respected profession everyone wants to be part of. He leads on future policy development and manages the workforce governance system of Professional Development Boards & Committees. He has previously worked in similar roles at the Association of Colleges, UK Coaching, Skills Active, Swim England & Loughborough & West Nottinghamshire Colleges.

Katy is the Founder of Seated SOSA Dance Fitness and SOSA & Starlets CIC)

A highly qualified and accomplished professional dancer, choreographer and fitness presenter, with a career spanning 28 years, Katy Barrow, created SOSA Dance Ltd in 2012, and has since trained over 600 dance/fitness instructors in 16 countries worldwide to deliver her programmes. SOSA offers a unique, innovative and sustainable approach, incorporating authentic movements from 37 international dance styles, with an iconic soundtrack of music spanning the past century.

Katy worked with Aspire’s InstuctAbility programme to train disabled people as SOSA instructors. Katy is passionate about providing fully accessible and inclusive training courses to encourage and support more disabled people to gain a professional qualification and build a life-long career within the fitness industry. Katy features in Aspire’s ‘EmployAbility Leisure Guide for Training Providers’ as a case study in support and adaptation for disabled learners.

Katy established SOSA & Starlets Community Interest Company during the pandemic, and was awarded funding from Sport England ‘Tackling Inequalities Fund’, to lead a nationwide project in target LSEG areas, providing inclusive, accessible and affordable dance activities for older adults, those with long-term health conditions and disabilities. This led to the development and trial of Simply SOSA ‘Falls Prevention’ strength and balance programme, with additional considerations for GP Health Referral patients.

Lee Welch started playing wheelchair basketball aged 13, and joined the Great Britain Under23 squad at seventeen before making his debut in the senior squad at twenty two.. When Lee retired from wheelchair basketball he wanted to inspire other people to get fit and was keen to give something back to the community. Lee joined Aspire’s InstructAbility programme and became a Fitness Instructor and Personal Trainer. As part of the programme, Lee undertook a work placement at Hartham Leisure Centre and was offered subsequent employment in 2014 where he continues to work as part of the fitness team.

Lee set up disability and limited mobility exercise classes to help show people what they can achieve. His work to engage disabled people in fitness activities has been recognised by an InstructAbility Award and in 2016 he won the Herts Disability Sports Coach of the Year. While Lee continues to work at Hartham Leisure Centre, he has also set up his own personal training business. ‘Beyond Limits Health & Fitness is a thriving business and stimulated by the Covid-19 lockdown he now works out of his own purpose built gym.

Ian Ling has over fifteen years experience working in the leisure industry. He joined Everyone Active in 2010 as Fitness Manager at Hartham Leisure Centre in Hertford. In 2013 the centre partnered with Aspire’s InstructAbility programme to offer work placements to disabled fitness professionals. Ian was instrumental in supporting instructors to develop their confidence and skills and set up inclusive fitness activities for disabled people in the local community. Ian subsequently went on to manage Loughton Leisure Centre and is currently General Manager at Westway Sports & Fitness Centre in London.

Yves De Vos MCSP MMACP MHCPC is an Advanced MSK Physiotherapist with a special interest in the application of Shockwave Therapy for MSK conditions and Men's Health. He owns several clinics in the South of England. He has developed his own 3 step process in creating solutions for clients with complex chronic tendinopathies and works with a team of physiotherapists, sports therapists, aquatic therapy specialists, MSK sonographer, Orthopaedic Consultant and rehab instructors. He is also a UK Shockwave Educator providing courses for physiotherapists, osteopaths, podiatrists, chiropractors, sports therapists and GP's. He has a 30 year background of treating MSK disorders both in the NHS and Private Practice and has been using Shockwave Therapy in his clinics for over 12 years.

Paul brings over 15 years’ experience to his role at Future Fit, as a personal trainer, PT manager, consultant and educator. He has created a successful PT business as well as working for some of the leading brands in the fitness industry. As Research and Development Manager at Future Fit, Paul oversees the creation and ongoing improvement of courses and products across the fields of personal training, nutrition, Pilates and health. Paul is also a writer and presenter and uses these platforms to advocate Future Fit’s campaign to #RaisetheBar – improving training standards across the industry to provide the next generation of fitness professionals with the skills they need for a successful career.

Dan brings over 15 years experience as the owner of Renegades Gym in Portsmouth, as a Personal Trainer (online and face to face), Exercise Rehabilitation Specialist, and educator. He and his business partners have created a successful Boutique Gym as well as writing for Men’s Fitness and Metro on many occasions. Dan is also a published author and uses methods to guarantee health and fitness success with whoever he works alongside.

Daniel Lawrence is a British Physiotherapist with a clinical background in both sport and general healthcare settings, both within the national health service and private sector. He has also worked in education at a variety of levels, continues to lecture internationally, and has previously published an academic text titled ‘Lower Limb Tendinopathy’. Daniel has also catalogued much of his own learning and teaching on his YouTube channel ‘The Physio Channel’ which continues to serve as a great resource for therapists around the world. Daniel is currently serving as European Director of Education for a large international company called Implus which includes the popular RockTape and Trigger Point brands. When not engaged in some form of physical therapy related activity he can be found fixing things on his land in Cornwall where he lives with his wife and two children.

Mike is a Registered Osteopath with over 20 years experience in the Health and Fitness Industry. Mike started his own training company in 2003 specialising in Health, Fitness and manual therapy training (Movement Therapy Education) and also lecture's on the FdSc and BSc Sports Therapy programmes at University College Birmingham and throughout the world in Anatomy and Intrinsic Biomechanics Coaching. Mike is a lead tutor/instructor for Elite Therapy Education, Biomechanics Education, Oxford School of Sports Massage (OSSM), RockTape/RockBlade and NAQI and regularly teaches courses for Premier League and Championship football clubs. Mike has held consultancy roles with Boots, Pera Products, Startrite, Brytespark and Convatec playing a key role in the research and development of new products and education systems. Mike regularly presents at conferences including Therapy Expo, FitPro, International Fitness Showcase, Good Health Show and the IOC world conference for Injury Prevention in Monaco. Mike run's Movement Therapy Clinics in Birmingham where his team put all that Movement Therapy Education teach in to practice.

Josh is the Third Space Head of Education.

His role is to educate, assess and progress their personal trainers whilst ensuring quality across the group.

Internationally sought-after Sales Trainer and Mentor, Elite Closer, Author of ‘Open With A Close’ & Public Speaker.

I’ve spent my entire working life in sales, from cold-calling & knocking on doors at the age of 18, to negotiating large contracts in the corporate, retail and expert space (human to human, of course!)

My mission is to change the way the world sells and closes, using the perfect balance of emotion and logic, sales experience, human psychology and a tried and tested formula.

It became my mission to create a sales process that’s congruent, adaptable, proven to work, and that FEELS good!

And that’s when the ‘Open With A Close’ Philosophy was born.

My book Open With A Close has now been sold in over 15 countries around the world, with thousands of people implementing the philosophy to generate more leads and close more sales.

Nick James and I co-founded the Elite Closing Academy, a place for Entrepreneurs, Business Owners and Sales Teams to dramatically increase their sales without coming across as pushy or manipulative.

We offer certified, professional sales training, coaching and mentoring packages to sales teams and individuals around the world.

Cheryl is a marketer with two decades of international experience. She is the Managing Director and co-founder of Action Group, an integrated marketing agency specialising in the fitness sector. Cheryl has worked with more than 100 fitness companies, and a portfolio of more than 500 leisure facilities, affording her a huge breadth of experience.

Under Cheryl’s direction, the agency has spearheaded marketing campaigns for over 100 brands including national advertising campaigns for David Lloyd, corporate communications for Gympass, the global corporate wellness provider recently valued at $2.2 billion, and large-scale events and consumer PR for group fitness global leader, Les Mills.

Cheryl is also an experienced board advisor to several companies in the fitness and wellness space, guiding on marketing and commercial matters.

Duncan Jefford is a luminary in leisure management and currently Regional Director with Everyone Active, a leading operator managing 200 leisure facilities nationwide.

Renowned for his ability to positively impact business profit, without compromising on quality or service, Duncan has been instrumental in the company’s extensive growth, increasing the number of operational sites five-fold and growing turnover from £30m to £250m. He is passionate about building effective teams and driving efficiency to create more profitable businesses.

Duncan spent six years in private sector leisure management before joining local authority leisure operator Everyone Active in 2006 and over the last 15 years has been at the forefront of the commercialisation of the local authority leisure sector. Duncan is an advocate of a wholly commercial approach, believing that local authorities must recognise the importance of a profit-driven operational style, or risk closure.

Paul is the CEO and Co-founder of Speedflex. Before entering the leisure industry, Paul spent 18 years working in professional sport. Five as a professional footballer for Newcastle United where he was the club’s youngest ever debutant in 1982. After injury ended his playing career he returned to Newcastle United in 1993 and enjoyed a highly successful career as the club’s Physiotherapist. He left professional football and in 2007 was called the bar. After qualifying as a barrister he once again returned to Newcastle United as the Head of Sports Medicine as part of Alan Shearer's management team.

Paul is also a bestselling and multi-award winning author of two memoirs. The Boy on the Shed (2018), and The Magic in the Tin (2022).

A former professional footballer, Steve has over 20 years’ experience in sport and as a leader in global fitness coaching, 121 training, management, leadership and education. A movement and performance specialist, UEFA Licensed Football Coach and international speaker and educator Steve has worked extensively with whole body vibration training and therapy for over a decade, delivering high performance education to elite teams and organisations all over the world.

Alex is an Ex-International Rugby League player who represents Matrix Fitness UK, Vector Training, Nuffield Health and Power Plate. With 10 years in the Sports/fitness industry, 7 of which working with clients and the last 5 years adding tutor roles teaching personal trainers. He has now established himself as an experienced fitness professional and is a gym manager and lecturer at Burnley College.

Matthew is an International Power Plate Master Trainer, Precor Lead Master Coach for Europe and Middle East and Health and Fitness specialist in all areas of functional wellness. Since 2002 Matthew has worked his way from a degree in Sports and Exercise science through Lifestyle consulting, Personal Training and management. After working as a Mentor to thousands of Personal Trainers he now specialises in all elements of Fitness education and presents across the country.

Anne-Marie is a nutritionist with over 15 years experience. She has a degree in Nutritional Sciences from University College Cork and an MSc in Public Health Nutrition from Southampton University. She is the Nutrition Specialist at Future Fit where she shares her passion for nutrition through her teaching, presenting and writing. Her areas of special interest include obesity and the factors that contribute to it at both an individual and population level, behaviour change, and plant-based eating.

Daniel is Sports and Physical Activity lead at Flair, Technology experts who leverage the power of data to beat racial bias in business. Prior to joining Flair, Daniel spent 4 years with OurPeople where he helped operators including Virgin Active, Serco Leisure, Gymbox and Third Space to better engage with their frontline teams. Daniel speaks on topics including Engaging Deskless Teams; Communicating with Diverse Workforces and the Business Impact of Racial Equity & Diversity of Thought.

Flair helps leading organisations (inc. The Premier League, EY and the NHS) break down the barriers to racial equity. Presenting employees with a safe platform to share their lived experiences while their data analytics engine uncovers bias blindspots, benchmarks racial equity performance, and generates roadmaps to meaningful action on ED&I.

Viveen joined Sport England in 2018 as Strategic Lead for low socio-economic groups and became Director for Equality Diversity Inclusion at the beginning of 2021. Through strong leadership Viveen is actively influencing a change, working with partners to build a sporting landscape which redresses the deep-rooted issues of exclusion and discrimination. With a strong belief that we are all accountable for the change we must see, Viveen is committed to creating spaces that are welcoming, affordable, inclusive and accessible; especially audiences who often feel marginalised and excluded.

“My objective is to ensure wherever people are they can experience the true benefits of being active through sport and physical activity. In my position of influence, I will do everything I can to create an environment where all communities feel valued and included.”

Rachel is the D&I & Wellbeing Lead at The Gym Group. Having been with the business for over 6 years, Rachel has supported in the development and implementation of EDI initiatives and strategy through a focus on utilising data insights and creating a culture of inclusion and trust to drive progress in this area.

Iffy is Head of Race Equality at The Premier League, having been appointed in April 2021. Amongst his duties, he’s Chair of the PL’s Black Participants Advisory Group (BPAG), and leads on the PL’s flagship, No Room For Racism, action plan. Prior to this he’d spent nine years working for the Players Union (the PFA), in a joint role as Coach
Educator and Equalities Executive. As part of his role there, he was a Trustee of the anti-racism organisation, Kick It Out, and sat on the FA Council as part of the FA’s Inclusion and Advisory board.

Before joining the PFA in 2013, he’d taken several Coaching roles as an Assistant Head Coach and Head Coach both in the UK and abroad, and all this after a fifteen-year playing career spanning three decades. Having grown up on Merseyside, he’s a lifelong and long-suffering Everton fan, and with a well-honed jealousy of near neighbours Liverpool FC, he’s intent on sharing his current allegiances with both Man City and Real Madrid for the remainder of the season !

Daniel Lawrence is a British Physiotherapist with a clinical background in both sport and general healthcare settings, both within the national health service and private sector. He has also worked in education at a variety of levels, continues to lecture internationally, and has previously published an academic text titled ‘Lower Limb Tendinopathy’. Daniel has also catalogued much of his own learning and teaching on his YouTube channel ‘The Physio Channel’ which continues to serve as a great resource for therapists around the world. Daniel is currently serving as European Director of Education for a large international company called Implus which includes the popular RockTape and Trigger Point brands. When not engaged in some form of physical therapy related activity he can be found fixing things on his land in Cornwall where he lives with his wife and two children.

Rachel’s professional career in the health and fitness industry spans more than two decades, originally as a professional dancer travelling across Europe and Asia. Her professional qualifications range from British Weight Lifting Coach, ETM, Sports Massage Therapist, Counsellor, Qualified Teacher Status, Assessor and IQA.

Rachel is very passionate about her role as the Managing Director of Biomechanics Education Ltd and frequently lectures, presents and teaches on the benefits of the intrinsic biomechanics methods at events both in the UK and internationally.

As the Partnerships Manager at the UK's leading fundraising cashback provider, easyfundraising, Ben Harper combines his passion, knowledge, and integrity to support the sport and fitness industry with their fundraising ambitions.

With over 15 years of experience within the physical activity and sports development sector, Ben has helped diversify funding streams at organisations like Active Partnership Energize STW and Harper Adams University. Today, Ben supports easyfundraising's partner network. Working closely with leading sporting affiliations with Sported, Community Leisure UK, England Netball, Swim England, Active Together, and others to create a fruitful and uncapped income stream for them and their members.

Rachel Fairweather is author of the best selling book for passionate massage therapists – ‘Massage Fusion: The Jing Method for the treatment of chronic pain”.

She is also the dynamic co-founder and Director of Jing Advanced Massage Training (www.jingmassage.com), a company providing degree level, hands-on and online training for all who are passionate about massage

Rachel has over 30 years experience in the industry working as an advanced therapist and trainer, first in New York and now throughout the UK. Due to her extensive experience, undeniable passion and intense dedication, Rachel is a sought after international guest lecturer, writes regularly for professional trade magazines, and has twice received awards for outstanding achievement in her field.

Rachel holds a degree in Psychology, a Postgraduate Diploma in Social Work, an AOS in Massage Therapy and is a New York licensed massage therapist.

Dave O’Sullivan is a Chartered Physiotherapist and contains a Masters Degree in Strengthening and Conditioning. Dave has worked as sports physio with England Rugby Union in the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan and with England Rugby League in the 2017 Rugby League World Cup in Australia. Dave also has a private practice in Huddersfield where he built it up from scratch to now having a leading clinic with over 10 staff that help people who have failed traditional approaches every single day.

Dave now teaches his step by step pro sport approach that he uses with his own sporting and non-sporting patients in private practice to therapists all over the world. Dave’s mission is to empower people to restore control through their body and minds so they can truly live. Dave is achieving this mission personally through his clinic and also through his vision with ProSport Academy. Dave’s vision is to support and guide over 1500 therapists in over 50 countries all over the world help millions of people in pain by having the confidence and clarity to help people who have failed traditional approaches. This all starts with understanding the ‘WHY’ behind everything you're doing and having a structured step by step system in place that gives repeatable outcomes and takes the emotion out of the decision making for therapists in private practice and pro sport.

Jordan is an Educator and Elite Personal Trainer at Third Space. He has been a Personal Trainer & strength coach for 11+ years, graduating from St. Mary's University London. In his time as a coach, he has been developing his ability to share complex training principles & research in a simple/digestible way to both the everyday client & elite athletes.

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Having worked across the fitness and elite sport sector for nearly 30 years, Chris brings a wealth of experience that crosses leadership, performance solutions, technology and coach education. Current roles include, working for performance brand PLAE, and consulting across the sports technology sector and the deployment of digital S&C as head coach of the SW7 Academy.

Internationally sought-after Sales Trainer and Mentor, Elite Closer, Author of ‘Open With A Close’ & Public Speaker.

I’ve spent my entire working life in sales, from cold-calling & knocking on doors at the age of 18, to negotiating large contracts in the corporate, retail and expert space (human to human, of course!)

My mission is to change the way the world sells and closes, using the perfect balance of emotion and logic, sales experience, human psychology and a tried and tested formula.

It became my mission to create a sales process that’s congruent, adaptable, proven to work, and that FEELS good!

And that’s when the ‘Open With A Close’ Philosophy was born.

My book Open With A Close has now been sold in over 15 countries around the world, with thousands of people implementing the philosophy to generate more leads and close more sales.

Nick James and I co-founded the Elite Closing Academy, a place for Entrepreneurs, Business Owners and Sales Teams to dramatically increase their sales without coming across as pushy or manipulative.

We offer certified, professional sales training, coaching and mentoring packages to sales teams and individuals around the world.

After qualifying as a teacher, Justine spent 10 years teaching secondary Physical Education with a leading role in Health and as an Assistant Head of House.

Following a move to Children’s Services within the Local Authority in Blackpool, Justine worked as the PE and School Sport Adviser with an overview of all 40 schools across the Local Authority: including primary, secondary and special schools. In this role Justine developed strong links working with Leisure Services and starting to work towards preventative methods in tackling health inequalities through a broad range of relationships, initiatives and projects, over a 10 year period.

In July 2013 Justine joined Sport England as the Relationship Manager for Local Government covering the North West of England. In this role she has worked with Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire and Lancashire to better position Sport and Physical Activity.

Justine has worked closely in the development and realisation of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership and Sport England and as such holds the relationship with Greater Manchester.

In 2017 Justine became a Strategic Lead Local Delivery to form part of the Local Delivery Directorate Leadership Team and lead on the Local Delivery Pilot work.

Most recently in February 2022 Justine has been promoted to the role of Interim Director for the Place Directorate.

I studied Applied Sports Science at Salford University, followed by studying for a Master’s degree in Exercise and Nutrition Science. Following multi-sport coaching experience and volunteering in communities in Manchester, I moved on to work for the Manchester City Council for three years and worked for the national governing body of Dodgeball, British Dodgeball, tutoring Level 2 courses and contributing to development of the sport in Greater Manchester.

My passion for physical activity and health continued when I setup my own business for weight management programmes and this led to taking up a role at Life Leisure in Stockport. For the last eight years my role has evolved from managing a Sport England funded project called I Wish I’d Tried, to creating a new concept and initiative called SMILE. For the last two years I have managed the Active Communities team at Life Leisure and lead on the locality work in Stockport for the Local Pilot. Over the last ten years I have played Dodgeball competitively both nationally and internationally including representing Scotland and GB Dodgeball.

A former international athlete representing both England and Great Britain, Russ studied at Leeds Beckett University (Carnegie) and Loughborough University. He was a teacher of Physical Education for 14 years, including as Head of Department in two large secondary schools. In 2005, he moved into the School Improvement Service at Stockport Council as the Physical Education Consultant. He continues to provide physical education and school sport advice, support and guidance to schools; is leading on Stockport’s Active Communities Strategy and is a member of the Public Health Senior Management Team as strategic lead for both physical activity and healthy weight. He also sits on the North Western Counties Physical Education Association Research and Professional Development Committee and is a school governor at a local primary school.

Andy King is the CEO of Your Trust in Rochdale and Chair of GM Active that consists of a collaboration of twelve operators across Greater Manchester. Before joining Your Trust Andy was the northern Regional Director for GLL after merging his previous Trust, Carlisle Leisure Ltd into GLL. He has also been a Director with Serco Leisure and worked in the private sector with Virgin and Fitness First. GM Active was originally formed in response to the devolution of the health budget to the region in 2015 and has really come into its own in a number of ways during the pandemic.

GM Active have responded to the pandemic and what has happened since on their mission to link with health effectively. GM Active have created an Academy to ‘pivot’ to wellness across GM and have created a new ‘Transformational Leadership’ programme that is upskilling managers across GM in how they can play a part locally in working more effectively using collaborative and system leadership to really support those in the community that need it most. In addition they also have an award winning Prehab4Cancer programme that supports people across Greater Manchester newly diagnosed with cancer and as a result is now commissioned by GM Cancer to the tune of £1/2m per annum.

I have been leading Greater Manchester Moving since April 2017 and from February 2020, I have combined this with a dual role as CEO role at GreaterSport. For 25 years, I have played a leadership role in physical activity, sport, policy and community development, and remain a committed community volunteer where I live, which keeps it all very real.

I have always believed in the power of an active life for health, happiness, friendship and community. I am a passionate advocate of this agenda in my culture change, system change, behaviour change work in Greater Manchester.

Leading in local government, charity, private and social enterprise sectors, I have developed my understanding of complex systems, from the community perspective and a strategic one. This is hugely valuable in my current role in GM, where we take a whole system approach to everything we do from homelessness to health, to transport.

As the Exec lead for GM Moving, my work is located in the devolved and integrated system. Greater Manchester is Doing things Differently. It’s an exciting place to be. Together, leaders from across sectors wrote and launched the GM Moving Plan in 2017. As CEO of GreaterSport, I lead this amazing charity, enabling it to play its full part in the leadership and delivery of the system wide GM Moving Plan.

We have big ambitions, and committed people. We seek to engage everyone from people and communities through to senior leaders who influence policy locally and nationally. The GM Moving Executive Group and GreaterSport Board brings together passionate leaders across the VCSE, NHS, local government, transport, physical activity and sport sectors.

I am convinced that a whole system approach to enabling active lives is the only way we will succeed in designing moving back into everyday life. I believe in sharing openly and honestly as we go, and working with others to learn in GM and beyond. I do this partly by writing, sharing my reflections and inviting others to join in the conversation which helps to move us all forward together. Last year we also published the GM Moving Journey and Learning.

This is challenging work for all of us. Resilience is important. I unwind and make sense of it all whilst out in the Peak District where I live. Walking, running, wild swimming and having adventures with friends and family is how I have fun, restore and refresh my mind, body and spirit!

A wealth of experience in the health and fitness industry from both a supplier and operators’ perspective. Noted expertise in member engagement and retention Jon has held positions such as COO of Retention Management, Sales Director of Matrix Fitness and Marketing Director for Xercise4Less as well as regularly consulting to some of the fitness industry's best known club chains on both sides of the Atlantic. His Retain™ Model is used by hundreds of health clubs, gyms, studios, and fitness centres around the world. www.JonNasta.com

With experience in the fitness and wellness industry, I've worked with some of the largest fitness and physio brands in the UK and Europe, working with them to provide the technical tools they needed to obtain and more importantly retain clients, seeing which retention practices worked best, before and during the pandemic. Currently heading up the project for our new software for mental health practitioners, we're looking to take some of those practices and help osteo and mental health professionals give the best care in their practices with simple but effective digital tools.

Sohail Rashid is the Founder and CEO of Brawn Power, a tool designed to help gyms engage with their members that enjoy strength training. Brawn have identified a gap in the market and provide a connected experience for strength training.

Their solution, Brawn inGym, helps gym owners improve retention by making lifting in the gym more accessible, meaningful and engaging.

Sohail founded Brawn following his own experiences and frustrations as a former strength athlete. Combining his background of over 12 years in building retention and technology solutions for the property market with his personal experience when strength training has allowed Brawn to develop quickly as they work closely with some of the UK's leading gyms.

Jan’s career in interdisciplinary science spans man years. Her research has involved: bioluminescence, inflammatory diseases, free radicals, cardiovascular diseases, biocompatibility of medical devices, antioxidants and diet, measuring antioxidant activity, monitoring the health and performance of elite athletes and in developing methods for use in such research.

She co-founded Knight Scientific Ltd (KSL) to exploit the potential of the bioluminescent protein Pholasin® an exquisitely sensitive detector of free radicals and other reactive oxygen species, unique to KSL. Under her leadership as Managing Director, KSL develops, manufactures and markets a number of analytical and diagnostic research kits, carries out contract testing and research and has come to be recognized as a world leader in products for free radical research. ABEL® (Analysis By Emitted Light) kits are all based on Pholasin® and are used in research into oxidative stress which embraces applications into over 150 free radical-mediated diseases, including cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. ABEL® kits are also now routinely used for QC of products and for monitoring the well-being of people, especially elite athletes.

Jan has been an invited speaker at international conferences and has given seminars and practical workshops at pharmaceutical and medical device companies, the Olympic Medical Institute, and at the National Measurement Institute of Australia. She gave a lecture at the British Association of Sports Exercise Medicine (BASEM) conference and presented two papers at the Isokinetic and FIFA, Football Medicine Conferences.

She won five SMART awards for KSL; led a consortium under the DTI’s Wealth from the Oceans programme; led a prestigious Health Technology Devices collaborative project is a member of an Horizon 2020 five partner consortium. She collaborates with scientists and clinicians in many universities and hospitals in the UK and abroad, is a visiting fellow at Plymouth Marjon University and is an inventor of a number of patents. In 1999 she became a lifetime Millennium Fellow.

Chris has been working in the leisure industry since 1995 and his experience to-date has seen him progress from delivering parties and holiday camps at his local sports centre to high profile national roles for both public and private leisure operators.

Children’s activities, sport (particularly football) and fitness have always been at the core of Chris’ work and since his move from General Management in 2004 he has been responsible for developing innovative products and cutting edge brands for various high profile national and international organisations; such as Disney, Virgin Active, Thomas Cook, Challenger Sports, David Lloyd and global children's TV show LazyTown.

Chris has a flair for creating financially profitable products that truly engage children of all ages, increasing participation whilst at the same time re-energising staff and coaches set the task of bringing his products to life and using them to drive successful businesses.

Chris co-founded Topodium Group in 2020 with a single mission; to transform the sports, health and wellbeing industries. By leveraging a powerful set of collaborative solutions and industry expertise, from sports marketing and technology, to youth consultancy and business growth, Topodium Group are able to effectively and efficiently address change, achieving better outcomes and inspiring new possibilities for partners across the globe. 2022 has seen Topodium Group launch Kidztivity, an innovative new brand delivering a series of off-the-shelf solutions for the children's activities sector.

Matthew Hopkinson is Deputy Director leading the Life Skills Division in the Department for Education, which covers policy on what schools do on pupil wellbeing and development, including PE and sport, wider enrichment activities, relationships, sex and health education, citizenship and equalities.

Dan worked in education for 12 years, teaching in primary, secondary and special schools in Southampton, Newcastle and Coventry. After a brief spell leading a School Sports Partnership in London he was appointed to a local authority Curriculum Consultant role for PE and Sport.

As the Director of Development at the Yorkshire Sport Foundation, Dan leads the Children and Young People, Workforce, Clubs, NGB and Active Design teams, as well as looking for new opportunities for funding and further development of the organisation, including its continuous improvement strategy.

In his role as Vice Chair of the Active Partnership national Children and Young People group, Dan has worked with government departments to develop thinking around the PE and Sport Premium and the PE, Sport and Activity Action Plan. He also sits on the All Party Parliamentary Group for a Fit and Healthy Childhood, having contributed to several influential reports.

Dan has been instrumental in bringing together leaders from different sectors to develop the influential Creating Active Schools (CAS) Framework, which emphasises the importance of putting physical activity at the heart of school strategy. CAS is now changing behaviours in local authorities, multi academy trusts and hundreds of schools across England so that more children reap the benefits of being more active throughout the school day.

Outside of his work for YSF, Dan is a proud father of two, Chair of Governors at a large Academy in North Yorkshire, a Trustee for the communities’ charity Groundwork and occasional triathlete.

Alina is the co-founder and COO of GetSetGo! Family Clubs, a game-changing business in the family activity market. Having secured over £2m in funding GetSetGo! opened their first club in April 2021 and now plan to open a further 7 clubs across London in the next 5 years – with sites in Golders Green, High Street Kensington and Marylebone already in the pipeline.

Alina and co-founder, Claires' vision was to create a space for families where you can find time for you, time for them and time together allowing for friendships to flourish, children to grow and develop and for family members of all ages to get active.

In just 12 months they have delivered over 40,000 swimming lessons and over 20,000 studio classes and see over 3000 family members per week!

Having worked in the leisure industry for over 15 years Alina has extensive experience at both management and board level. Starting her career as a Personal Trainer and Group Exercise Instructor Alina rapidly progressed into multisite management. Following many years in the private health club sector Alina then took on the role of Global Commercial and Operations Manager, overseeing sales in the UK and US office, along with the management of the global distributors.

In the last 8 years Alina has moved onto successfully consult and launch a number of new start ups and alongside founding GetSetGo! Family Clubs also sits on the board for Six3Nine Personal Training Studios and Swimming Rocks.

Craig has over 20 years’ experience working with children and young people within education as well as the sports, health and fitness industries. Originally from Coventry, he has worked throughout the UK and Europe, implementing Children and Families strategies across product development, operating models, H&S and compliance.

Craig's core focus is on increasing physical activity levels among children and young people. Craig is known for his caring, nurturing approach to leadership, which enables him to bring out the very best in his team members. His passion lies in developing and supporting the best people to manage, lead and inspire children’s professionals within organisations.

An energetic, results-driven individual, Craig aims at all times to provide high-quality, engaging childcare programs and solutions.

Craig wanted to be a kids TV presenter in his younger days, and while he hasn't made a name for himself on the small screen, he has dedicated his life to bringing joy to children (including his own now). And like Peter Pan, Craig believes that he's never really grown up.

Craig wanted to be a kids TV presenter in his younger days, and while he hasn't made a name for himself on the small screen, he has dedicated his life to bringing joy to children (including his own now). And like Peter Pan, Craig believes that he's never really grown up.

Daniel Lawrence is a British Physiotherapist with a clinical background in both sport and general healthcare settings, both within the national health service and private sector. He has also worked in education at a variety of levels, continues to lecture internationally, and has previously published an academic text titled ‘Lower Limb Tendinopathy’. Daniel has also catalogued much of his own learning and teaching on his YouTube channel ‘The Physio Channel’ which continues to serve as a great resource for therapists around the world. Daniel is currently serving as European Director of Education for a large international company called Implus which includes the popular RockTape and Trigger Point brands. When not engaged in some form of physical therapy related activity he can be found fixing things on his land in Cornwall where he lives with his wife and two children.

Mike is a Registered Osteopath with over 20 years experience in the Health and Fitness Industry. Mike started his own training company in 2003 specialising in Health, Fitness and manual therapy training (Movement Therapy Education) and also lecture's on the FdSc and BSc Sports Therapy programmes at University College Birmingham and throughout the world in Anatomy and Intrinsic Biomechanics Coaching. Mike is a lead tutor/instructor for Elite Therapy Education, Biomechanics Education, Oxford School of Sports Massage (OSSM), RockTape/RockBlade and NAQI and regularly teaches courses for Premier League and Championship football clubs. Mike has held consultancy roles with Boots, Pera Products, Startrite, Brytespark and Convatec playing a key role in the research and development of new products and education systems. Mike regularly presents at conferences including Therapy Expo, FitPro, International Fitness Showcase, Good Health Show and the IOC world conference for Injury Prevention in Monaco. Mike run's Movement Therapy Clinics in Birmingham where his team put all that Movement Therapy Education teach in to practice.

In the early 1980’s, as a serious Marathon runner and Triathlete Mel discovered the benefits of self-massage which helped him recover better from training and competition. Realising its potential he decided to pursue this as a career.

Massage courses were very basic in those days but he soon started to develop his own skills to better meet the needs of the athletes and dancers he was treating. His reputation grew and his clients included the British Heavyweight Boxing champion at the time, Frank Bruno and the World renowned prima Ballerina Sylvie Guillem (and they don’t come more different than that). He also works with recreational athletes of all standards.

He wrote the first book on Sports Massage in 1988 and followed this up with the first school to teach it. Since then he has written another three textbooks and set up the Institute of Sport & Remedial Massage to spread his qualification more widely.

But there is more to life than sport and Mel has clients from all walks of life with the widest range of musculoskeletal problems caused by all manner of stresses, including terminal medical conditions.

He strongly believes in an evidence-based biopsychosocial framework of care. He doesn’t treat “injuries”, he treats “people” with injuries and does not follow any routine treatments or procedures because no two people are ever the same.

He is the pioneer of the industry in the UK and is also regarded as the World’s leading authority on Sports Massage and Soft Tissue Therapy.

Working in the Health and Fitness Industry for over 10 years, both in the UK and US, Claire is passionate about inspiring our industry to innovate and to maximise the part that technology can play in getting more people, more active, more often.

Claire believes that focussing on technology solutions that deliver commercial success goes hand in hand with facilitating millions of people in getting active, and is a huge advocate in driving forwards the speed of technology adoption and digital transformation within our sector.

Colin is a UK Clinical Lead in Physiology, a Sports Scientist, UKA Running Coach and Personal Trainer tutor and assessor who works with athletes from beginner to elite, all over the world. He is also a tutor at the Institute of Sport. He has regular visits to Kenya, with some of the world's top athletes and coaches, training at altitude in their quest to reach the top. He has also worked in hospitals, gyms, clinics and fitness centres all over the UK with the general public, amateur and professional sports people, all with the similar aim of improving performance. As a keen running enthusiast himself he is always looking to trial new ways of pushing the limits of human performance. He is a regular speaker at conferences in the UK and abroad, and his written articles are regularly published in running magazines. His first book, Running on the Red Dust, is 5 star rated on Amazon.

Daniel Lawrence is a British Physiotherapist with a clinical background in both sport and general healthcare settings, both within the national health service and private sector. He has also worked in education at a variety of levels, continues to lecture internationally, and has previously published an academic text titled ‘Lower Limb Tendinopathy’. Daniel has also catalogued much of his own learning and teaching on his YouTube channel ‘The Physio Channel’ which continues to serve as a great resource for therapists around the world. Daniel is currently serving as European Director of Education for a large international company called Implus which includes the popular RockTape and Trigger Point brands. When not engaged in some form of physical therapy related activity he can be found fixing things on his land in Cornwall where he lives with his wife and two children.

Internationally sought-after Sales Trainer and Mentor, Elite Closer, Author of ‘Open With A Close’ & Public Speaker.

I’ve spent my entire working life in sales, from cold-calling & knocking on doors at the age of 18, to negotiating large contracts in the corporate, retail and expert space (human to human, of course!)

My mission is to change the way the world sells and closes, using the perfect balance of emotion and logic, sales experience, human psychology and a tried and tested formula.

It became my mission to create a sales process that’s congruent, adaptable, proven to work, and that FEELS good!

And that’s when the ‘Open With A Close’ Philosophy was born.

My book Open With A Close has now been sold in over 15 countries around the world, with thousands of people implementing the philosophy to generate more leads and close more sales.

Nick James and I co-founded the Elite Closing Academy, a place for Entrepreneurs, Business Owners and Sales Teams to dramatically increase their sales without coming across as pushy or manipulative.

We offer certified, professional sales training, coaching and mentoring packages to sales teams and individuals around the world.

Ian Turley, Operations Director at Future Fit for Business and Health Club Consultant, has been committed to the Fitness industry for over 30 years starting out working the gym floor and eventually into operational management and director level positions. Working across a number of operations including working as Sales Director of Les Mills in New Zealand and more recently as COO for Holmes Place, Ian is a passionate and highly experienced professional with a demonstrated history of working in the health and wellness industry leading high performing teams. Passionate about people and workforce development within successful and progressive businesses, Ian made a move out of the role of operator to join Future Fit on it's mission to raise standards of training across the sector.

Andy King is the CEO of Your Trust in Rochdale and Chair of GM Active that consists of a collaboration of twelve operators across Greater Manchester. Before joining Your Trust Andy was the northern Regional Director for GLL after merging his previous Trust, Carlisle Leisure Ltd into GLL. He has also been a Director with Serco Leisure and worked in the private sector with Virgin and Fitness First. GM Active was originally formed in response to the devolution of the health budget to the region in 2015 and has really come into its own in a number of ways during the pandemic.

GM Active have responded to the pandemic and what has happened since on their mission to link with health effectively. GM Active have created an Academy to ‘pivot’ to wellness across GM and have created a new ‘Transformational Leadership’ programme that is upskilling managers across GM in how they can play a part locally in working more effectively using collaborative and system leadership to really support those in the community that need it most. In addition they also have an award winning Prehab4Cancer programme that supports people across Greater Manchester newly diagnosed with cancer and as a result is now commissioned by GM Cancer to the tune of £1/2m per annum.

Stu Stokes is the Managing Director of ReferAll and has been involved in the Health and Fitness industry for 25 years specialising in public health projects from implementation to delivery to evaluation. Stu co-founded ReferAll in 2010 to improve data collection and to drive efficacy in programmes such as exercise referral, weight management and physical activity services. ReferAll's customer base includes Local Authorities, Leisure and NHS Trusts and the Voluntary Sector. The ReferAll platform has witnessed over 680,000 referrals amassing a huge body of evidence. As such, Stu has been involved with the ukactive Research Institute for the last 6 years helping to bring data to life through research studies and more recently the creation of the National ReferAll Database hosted on the Open Science Framework.

Anthony Crozier MSc has over 20 years of experience in community and clinical exercise provision as a rehabilitation practitioner with the NHS, various local authorities, and the private sector. Following a Masters degree in Public Health, he is currently studying for a PhD, focussing on clinical exercise and provision in the UK, and is one of the first four registered Clinical Exercise Physiologists in the UK. He is the Health and Wellbeing Specialist at Future Fit, writing and overseeing all of the health-focused courses and has recently spearheaded new courses for the innovative School of Health, including the Living Longer Better course with Sir Muir Gray.

Adrian Burman Bsc (Hons), PGDip, Cert (MSK). Adrian has 17 years imaging experience, 13 years in ultrasound, he is a highly skilled, and motivated diagnostic medical Sonographer with a wealth of knowledge in all routine and many specialist areas of diagnostic medical ultrasound. He started his career as a fitness professional following a sports and exercise science degree from the Manchester Metropolitan University, and went on to further his skills by completing a second degree in diagnostic radiography at the University of Central England in Birmingham, where he remained for several years at the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham. After proving his ability in diagnostic radiography Adrian went on to specialise in diagnostic ultrasound and in particular Musculoskeletal ultrasound(MSKus).

In the past two years Adrian has taken his skills into the private sector, creating his own company providing diagnostic ultrasound services to GP’s hospitals and various clinics in the community as well as on a part time basis providing ultrasound support.

Chris is the current Chair of BASIS a role he has fulfilled for the last 9 years. A founder member of the Association, he spent 12 years at the England and Wales Cricket Board as a Facilities and Investment Manager, coordinating and supporting the delivery and implementation of the National Governing Body facility funding programmes in the recreational game. He worked on several pilot and landmark projects which helped to drive the adoption of sustainable practices within the recreational game including the state of the art and forward looking, Urban Hub at the Leyton Sports Ground in East London.

Chris facilitates and manages the Special Interest Groups at BASIS which bring together leading specialists in their field to ‘deep dive’ into topics which are the burning issues within sport, with the purpose of sharing and publishing information relevant to the industry.

Outside of BASIS, Chris currently Chairs a not for profit, social enterprise providing leadership and life skills to young volunteers.

Emma Osmundsen is Managing Director of Exeter City Living Ltd, the ‘Profit for Purpose’ Development Company of Exeter City Council. Emma’s Passivhaus journey started in 2008 when she headed up the development of the UK’s first multi-residential certified Passivhaus scheme for Exeter City Council. Since then, Emma has been responsible for delivering more than 100 Passivhaus homes across the city and, more recently, two of the UK-first Passivhaus developments; an Extra-Care elderly housing, Edwards Court and St Sidwell’s Point Leisure Centre and spa.

Keith is the CEO of SPACE & PLACE, Europe’s leading architects in sport, leisure, and entertainment. He’s proud to be the present leader of, what he describes as, the awesome S&P team, who for over 40 years have successfully delivered some of the most innovative and pioneering projects for the UK’s sport and leisure market. Every year over 100 million people use S&P buildings and he’s equally animated whether talking about S&P’s tiniest community sports clubs, their 2012 London Aquatic Centre with Zaha Hadid, or S&P’s, and the world’s, most energy efficient sports and centre for Exeter City, which is the first and only facility in the UK to receive Passivhaus Certification.

Keith is a regular contributor to local government on the development and funding of community sport and improved activity levels, and works with International Federations and NGBs on outstanding contemporary strategies to get more people engaged in improving physical and mental wellness.

He is known throughout the sector for his creativity and thought leadership and challenges everyone to do better, whether it is on big issues like climate crisis action, or on the smallest construction detail in one of S&P’s buildings

Keith has Previously held roles at the Royal Household, the board of Swim England, and has chaired BISL’s sport sector. He’s currently a Non-Executive Director of British Swimming and is passionate about GB Olympic and Paralympic success.

"Male innovator of the Year”, Will Flint, is the Founder and CEO of Energym, where he's leading the charge, and rebellion, against climate change. Recently awarded “Tech Startup of the Year”, Energym is a precision-engineering, tech-for-good scale-up based in Birmingham, UK, that has developed highly efficient, patented systems and equipment that efficiently captures the energy from peoples’ exercise, converting it into clean, green (and free) sustainable energy. As a self-titled “tech-geek” with an early career in the energy efficiency industry and a love for fitness (with a Bodybuilding Pro Card) - Will has built a business that delivers products and solutions that combine all the things he is passionate about. One that’s empowering the fitness industry to create a better future for our planet.

Find out how Energym is turning Human Power: On - www.energym.io

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Cathy is an Elite Personal Trainer at Third Space. She was in the vanguard of professional women’s boxing and works with passion and determination to promote equality and equity for women.

Daniel Lawrence is a British Physiotherapist with a clinical background in both sport and general healthcare settings, both within the national health service and private sector. He has also worked in education at a variety of levels, continues to lecture internationally, and has previously published an academic text titled ‘Lower Limb Tendinopathy’. Daniel has also catalogued much of his own learning and teaching on his YouTube channel ‘The Physio Channel’ which continues to serve as a great resource for therapists around the world. Daniel is currently serving as European Director of Education for a large international company called Implus which includes the popular RockTape and Trigger Point brands. When not engaged in some form of physical therapy related activity he can be found fixing things on his land in Cornwall where he lives with his wife and two children.

Mike Hurley qualified as a physiotherapist at Kings’ College Hospital in 1985. After completing his PhD at University College London he was Lecture, Reader and Professor at Kings College London between 1990-2010. In 2010 he became Research Lead in the School of Rehabilitation Sciences at St George’s University of London/Kingston University.He was a Clinical Advisor to Arthritis Research UK (2002-2008), Chair of Chartered Society of Physiotherapy’s Research and Clinical Effectiveness (2001-2004), has contributed to several national working groups, clinical guideline committee and conferences. He has authored more than 75 papers.In July 2013 Mike was appointed Clinical Director for the Musculoskeletal Programme of the Health Innovation Network South London (an Academic Health Science Network) to promote implementation of best practice for people with musculoskeletal conditions. A major part of his work was the development and evaluation of ESCAPE-pain – a rehabilitation programme to help people with knee and/or hip osteoarthritis. The programme has won recognition from many health and wellbeing agencies including the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, British Society of Rheumatology, Royal Society of Public Health, Public Health England, Arthritis Research UK. It is currently being rolled out across the UK, and is now being delivered in over 175 clinical, leisure and community centres across the UK.

Stuart is a Sports Science Graduate from University of Wales who has worked in sports development, talent and performance sport for the over 20 years. In 2000 Stuart designed and launched a ground-breaking golf programme aimed at children aged 5 to 11 called Tri-Golf which has gone on to become a globally recognised development product that has now provided golf experiences to over 2,000,000 children across 22 countries.

Stuart has held positions in performance and talent development at England Golf, UK Coaching and the Rugby Football Union that have all focussed on creating optimal development environments for young people to thrive and reach their potential. Stuart is currently the Head of Workforce Transformation at Sport England. He has been responsible for writing and publishing two national strategy documents, ‘Coaching in an Active Nation: The Coaching Plan for England’ and ‘Working in an Active Nation: The Professional Workforce Strategy for England’.

Stuart is a highly regarded public speaker having delivered keynote presentations across the globe for a range of organisations both in and out of sport. He is also an expert facilitator who leads workshops for organisations striving to support people to be the best they can be. Stuart also owns the website www.thetalentequation.co.uk and is host of the 5 star rated podcast ‘The Talent Equation’ which is dedicated to providing advice, guidance and support to people at the cutting edge of coaching and performance development.

Stuart has coaching qualifications in Hockey, Cricket, Rugby and Golf, He has coached internationally, at national league level and has held roles as a National Age Group Talent Development Coach at England Hockey working with some of the top U16 and U18 players in the country. Alongside all this Stuart also volunteers at his local clubs and faces his biggest coaching challenge with 50 U10 hockey players in the winter and 40 U11 cricketers during the summer!

At UK Coaching Heather leads on ensuring all people taking part in sport and physical activity access great coaching which meets their motivations regardless of where they are on the player pathway. She has spent over 20 years in Coaching Development. Former Coaching adviser to Sport England on many programmes including Active Sports and continues to work closely with Sport England delivering the outcomes of the Children’s Coaching Collaborative and strategically placing coaching at the heart of Uniting the Movement.

Passionate about the delivery of high quality coaching experiences through physical activity and sport, as a coach educator, manager and leader she has seen the impact great coaching can have first-hand as the mother of four boys.

More recently Heather leads on the Policy area for Duty of Care, working closely with the sector to ensure that the recommendations from the Duty of Care in Sport Report 2017 can also ensure that the 3 million coaches in the UK, from playground to podium, in Gyms, sports clubs and Leisure Centres are all equipped to look after their participants, and as importantly look after themselves.

Ian Ogilvie is an Independent Chartered Safety and Health Consultant who has worked in the leisure industry for the past 30 years. Currently Ian sits on the BSI Committee for Swimming Pools and also the Pool Water Treatment Advisory Group for the UK and has written several publications around design and plant and course material for regulated swimming pool qualifications. Finally he also is a Technical Advisor for the Royal Life Saving Society on swimming pool plant.

33 years in the industry. RLSS National Trainer Assessor. In some way with some sort of influence over approx. 150 pools and thus thousands of lifeguards.

Current Treasurer of The GLL Society – over 20 years on the board.

Passionate Sailor and competitor in life!

Find out more about GLL here.

Jo started her career as a lifeguard over 20 years ago, which may explain her passion for lifeguarding and water safety.

Following a 12 year stint with a National Operator, managing lifeguarding and swimming pool health and safety; Jo took a role at RLSS UK, the leading UK organisation for water safety.

In her role at RLSS UK Jo focuses on supporting the industry with high quality training and qualifications.

Jo has a wealth of knowledge for everything relating to swimming pool safety; from supervision to signage to technology.

Ben has been with Everyone Active since 2007 and has worked in the leisure industry for over 30 years. He started working in leisure as a lifeguard and having worked in many different roles is now Group Development Director for Everyone Active, who operate over 200 facilities on behalf of 64 local authorities. As Group Development Director he leads the group's operational development and innovation across the business.

A recognised contributor and industry expert within the field of Drowning Prevention Technology and Safer Swimming Systems. Poolview Limited are the only UK manufacturer and supplier of Submersion Detection hardware and they utilise their own specifically designed “Iris” detection software.

Richard is Swim England’s Head of facilities, a vastly experienced expert in swimming pool operation and design. He began his career operationally managing facilities, following that he spent 5 years as a pool plant technical manager for a training organisation, leading on the training of over 3,000 operators a year. He has been with Swim England facilities for over 6 years now providing advice and consultancy ensuring that new built facilities and refurbishments are fit for purpose and sustainable for the future. Richard has been a member of the PWTAG technical committee for over 10 and a PWTAG director for the past 3 years, he is also a representative of the British Standards working group for European standards of swimming pools.

Furthermore, he has worked closely with the HSE on numerous projects, Richard has delivered seminars on swimming pool design and operations at various conferences across the globe including; splash international in Singapore, the World Aquatic Heath Conference (WAHC) in Phoenix Arizona and various exhibitions and conferences within the UK and Europe.

Andy Read stood down as Head of Safety at Places Leisure (Responsible for 100 Leisure Centres, Pre-covid 9,500 colleagues and 20 million annual visits) on 31st March 2022.

His involvement with leisure will continue;

A independent member of the ukactive Governance and Standards Committee;

Vice Chair of the Leisure Expert Panel (LEP), member of CIMSPA,

Independent member of the Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS) Operator Group.

• understanding the role of technology and lifeguarding

• voluntary health and leisure projects

David leads on the development of policy and advice for RoSPA members and networks overseeing the executive and programme support for the National Water Safety Forum, including the Water Incident Database (WAID). He is an author of the UK drowning prevention strategy, an external advisor to the recent Australian drowning prevention strategy and a technical contributor to a number of WHO and UK Government programmes including most recently Covid-19 re-opening impacts, and the MCA Managing beach safety advice. David sits on the managing group for the Leisure Expert Panel in support of RoSPA's contribution towards better sector safety regulation.

David has previously worked on Commonwealth and Olympic Games, led and guided adventurous activities. He has led on fatal accident investigation and independent reviews in Manchester, Bristol and Durham in recent years. Current programmes of interest include; supporting the development of the regulatory framework for E-Scooters & promotion of active travel; evaluation and application of AI/ML technologies to drowning and road risk, crowd safety environments; revisions to a number of HSE and Government guidance.

David is boyhood member of The Salford Lads Club and a graduate from The University of Salford. He is married to Polly and lives in Birmingham with their two young children. He doesn't get enough sleep.

Internationally sought-after Sales Trainer and Mentor, Elite Closer, Author of ‘Open With A Close’ & Public Speaker.

I’ve spent my entire working life in sales, from cold-calling & knocking on doors at the age of 18, to negotiating large contracts in the corporate, retail and expert space (human to human, of course!)

My mission is to change the way the world sells and closes, using the perfect balance of emotion and logic, sales experience, human psychology and a tried and tested formula.

It became my mission to create a sales process that’s congruent, adaptable, proven to work, and that FEELS good!

And that’s when the ‘Open With A Close’ Philosophy was born.

My book Open With A Close has now been sold in over 15 countries around the world, with thousands of people implementing the philosophy to generate more leads and close more sales.

Nick James and I co-founded the Elite Closing Academy, a place for Entrepreneurs, Business Owners and Sales Teams to dramatically increase their sales without coming across as pushy or manipulative.

We offer certified, professional sales training, coaching and mentoring packages to sales teams and individuals around the world.

Mike Kennedy is a Highly Specialist Musculoskeletal, Sports & Exercise Medicine Physiotherapist at Spire Hospital, Manchester.
At Spire Manchester I lead the successful Shockwave Therapy Service which now provides a solution for chronic injuries such as Plantar Fasciitis and Achilles Tendinopathy. This has led to Spire Manchester being recognised as a specialist Shockwave centre playing host to annual shockwave training events.

Working with elite athletes; I have developed a high level of expertise in pitch side intervention, sports injury management and sport specific rehabilitation. I also work with The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) providing expert support and Physiotherapy services to its members. Working with elite footballers has enhanced my scope of practice in the management of sports injury and with access to state of the art facilities in my role at Spire Perform I have seen vast improvements in the rehabilitation outcomes following both injury and orthopaedic surgery.

Dave O’Sullivan is a Chartered Physiotherapist and contains a Masters Degree in Strengthening and Conditioning. Dave has worked as sports physio with England Rugby Union in the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan and with England Rugby League in the 2017 Rugby League World Cup in Australia. Dave also has a private practice in Huddersfield where he built it up from scratch to now having a leading clinic with over 10 staff that help people who have failed traditional approaches every single day.

Dave now teaches his step by step pro sport approach that he uses with his own sporting and non-sporting patients in private practice to therapists all over the world. Dave’s mission is to empower people to restore control through their body and minds so they can truly live. Dave is achieving this mission personally through his clinic and also through his vision with ProSport Academy. Dave’s vision is to support and guide over 1500 therapists in over 50 countries all over the world help millions of people in pain by having the confidence and clarity to help people who have failed traditional approaches. This all starts with understanding the ‘WHY’ behind everything you're doing and having a structured step by step system in place that gives repeatable outcomes and takes the emotion out of the decision making for therapists in private practice and pro sport.

William has helped transform the health of millions of people across the UK through innovative initiatives he has developed. As a family GP, he began to get his patients more active by setting up the first Health Walk scheme in April 1996. This led to him creating the Green Gym one year later as he realised that companionship and contact with nature were major driving forces in keeping people active.

As CEO and Founder of Intelligent Health, William developed the hugely successful Beat the Street programme which has encouraged more than 500,000 people across the world to get moving and improve their health. William’s leadership has grown the company from just three employees to an innovative industry leader in promoting physical activity.

Ever since he was a child, William has been fascinated by the connection between humans and their environment, so it was inevitable he would set up a company whose aim to improve health through community interventions. Dr William Bird said: “Our bodies are meant to be active and we’re designed to be connected to nature. We’re hunter-gatherers and our bodies currently exist in an alien environment of being indoors all the time and living under artificial lights and so on. Owing to this, our bodies respond with chronic inflammation which leads to cancer and long-term illness.

“The technology behind our programmes is an enabler to make the game simple and accessible to a whole population. The real aim of the game is to get people moving and connect them to their place.”
William has worked as a GP since 1991 and has been awarded ‘Innovation Doctor of the Year’ in 1996 and ‘Innovation Team of the Year in 1997’. In 2015, he was voted as one of the top 30 most influential conservationists in the UK by BBC Wildlife Magazine, named by The Independent as one of the top 100 people making Britain a happier place, and in 2010 was appointed MBE for services for health and physical activity.
He has worked for the World Health Organisation to develop a physical activity strategy for the Middle East which is now being implemented in many of the countries there and also worked on an innovative project for the Met Office, developing Health Forecasting that has resulted in heat health forecasts, cold weather forecasts and forecasting workload for the NHS.

As a result of his substantive knowledge and experience in nature, health and physical activity, William is also heavily in demand as a speaker: delivering addresses to many conferences and organisations including Yale University, American Medical Association, British Medical Association, Local Government Association and The Wildlife Trust.

He adds: “I like to think way beyond the current constraints of normal healthcare; developing innovative projects that will have a lasting and meaningful change for the health and wellbeing of entire communities.”

As Chief Commercial Officer, Alex leads growth and customer engagement for SweatWorks - the leading global technology agency for the fitness and wellness industry. With over two decades of experience in building and scaling companies across the fitness technology space, Alex was previously CEO of Netpulse, a leading provider of branded apps to fitness operators, which was acquired by EGYM in 2018. Prior to Netpulse, he established and led Zoom Media’s operations in Europe for 10 years.

Following 8 years in the military, Phill pursued a passion for health and fitness, initially as a personal trainer before establishing a training company and then going on to setting up and running a large gym. Phill has over 15 years of experience within sport and physical activity and is fully committed to helping to drive the recognition that sector professionals and volunteers receive. He has worked for the last 3 years as part of the CIMSPA team with a focus on insight and innovation.

Alex Zurita is London Sport’s Head of Sport Tech Hub, with responsibility for shaping its strategic commitments to supporting technology, data and digital initiatives designed to raise levels of participation in physical activity and sport in the capital and beyond.

Alex has led Sport Tech Hub’s delivery since its inception, supporting over 45 tech ventures which, between them, have reached more than 130,000 Londoners and raised over £5.5m of investment.

Alex joined London Sport in 2011 with brief stints as Great Britain Women’s Football Team Manager, and a secondment to the London Legacy Development Corporation as Programme Manager for the post-London 2012 legacy and multimillion-pound project - Active People, Active Park.

Having used technology and data while coaching football with grassroots and international players, Alex is a committed technophile, a widely-recognised advocate for the role of technology and open data in boosting participation in physical activity and sport, and a champion of the importance of sport for the future health of London and its residents.

Since 2013 I have been working as a International Master Trainer for XBody Headquarters, presenting the EMS TrainingTechnology in all the major global Fitness Expos and certifying trainers across 5 continents. The years working as anInternational Master Trainer have given me the opportunity to experience the growth of the EMS Industry worldwide, and closely follow the different steps of the expansion of a market, from the initial launch to becoming an established sector of the Fitness Industry.

In 2018 I have received the responsibilities of the Latin-American markets as well as Spain and Portugal as an International Business Developer for XBody Headquarters, specializing in the acquisition of new Distribution Partners and strategic Partnerships. With the FDA approval of our product in 2019, XBody USA as a subsidiary of XBody International has started distributing our EMS Training Technology in the United-States and I have been managing our operations in the United States since 2021.

As an acting member of the German Institute for Standardization DIN Committee NA 112 (NASport), NA 112-01-10 AA Fitness-Studios I have been able to cooperate with representatives of the fitness industry and the German Institute for Standardization (DIN) to further define the work frame for the usage of the EMS Training technology in the German market.

Sohail Rashid is the Founder and CEO of Brawn Power, a tool designed to help gyms engage with their members that enjoy strength training. Brawn have identified a gap in the market and provide a connected experience for strength training.

Their solution, Brawn inGym, helps gym owners improve retention by making lifting in the gym more accessible, meaningful and engaging.

Sohail founded Brawn following his own experiences and frustrations as a former strength athlete. Combining his background of over 12 years in building retention and technology solutions for the property market with his personal experience when strength training has allowed Brawn to develop quickly as they work closely with some of the UK's leading gyms.

Paul is a passionate entrepreneur with a highly impressive record of developing companies. He is currently Non Executive Chairman at Energym and is the former Executive Chairman of Gymshark. During his time at Gymshark he was instrumental alongside Ben Francis and Steve Hewitt in taking the business from its humble beginnings to achieve Unicorn status. Paul’s speciality is helping to lay solid business foundations,, developing brand value and mentoring young founders such as Ben Francis and Will Flint. Energym is a smart-tech fitness company that builds equipment that turns a user's workout into usable electric power.

Laura 'Biceps' Hoggins is a PT, Author, Presenter and Director of Brand & Marketing at The Foundry gyms in London. With a background of corporate sales and marketing, mixed with her passion for training and encouraging participation for women in fitness to feel empowered, to feel confident lifting weights, and is ready to challenge the industry stereotypes. She believes in celebrating individuals and inspiring those to get started on their wellness journey whatever that looks to them.

Gary Oleinik is the sales director at IndigoFitness and has over 20 years of industry experience within large fitness groups, elite sports and education sectors. Gary specialises in facility design, installation and sports technology products. Gary is a highly commercial senior manager with significant business experience, including VC and start-up exposure, and has an excellent track record of delivering sales growth in saturated and new markets. Throughout Gary's career, he has been privileged to design and create some of the sports industry-leading training spaces, including Tottenham Hotspurs Football Club, Manchester City Football Club and Mercedes F1.

With over 20 years’ experience in the leisure industry John heads up the marketing team for TA6. John has held a variety of roles in the public sector with Trusts and Authorities around his home town of Blackburn, and before joining Alliance Leisure in 2006 he was regional sales manager for the JJB Fitness Clubs. As a self-confessed geek-whisperer he has a passion for developing the skills and knowledge of the staff and clients he works with and also enjoys continuously developing his own skills, particularly in social media and digital marketing.

Neil is based in Bedfordshire and leads the TA6 operations team which provides client support to over 250 leisure centres across the UK. Neil’s previous roles, spanning 25 years in leisure, included head of membership, regional and national sales management. Having worked in both the private and public sector possessing a strong commercial background his desire to achieve results with a process driven focus is the foundation of delivering success for TA6 Alliance leisure’s clients across the country.

Daniel Lawrence is a British Physiotherapist with a clinical background in both sport and general healthcare settings, both within the national health service and private sector. He has also worked in education at a variety of levels, continues to lecture internationally, and has previously published an academic text titled ‘Lower Limb Tendinopathy’. Daniel has also catalogued much of his own learning and teaching on his YouTube channel ‘The Physio Channel’ which continues to serve as a great resource for therapists around the world. Daniel is currently serving as European Director of Education for a large international company called Implus which includes the popular RockTape and Trigger Point brands. When not engaged in some form of physical therapy related activity he can be found fixing things on his land in Cornwall where he lives with his wife and two children.

Tamara comes from a background in operations having spent many years managing health and fitness operations. Her passion has always been in creating customer experiences to drive member engagement and retention, and for the last 10 years has worked with companies such as TRP and Myzone to help operators maximise technology to create effective customer journeys that generate community and engagement. For the last 18 months Tamara has been part of the Alliance TA6 team helping to develop meaningful customer engagement strategies for the evolving needs of leisure providers, and to truly meet their customers where they are.

Paul Woodford is one of the leisure sectors top consultants, proven in Brand Development, Sales & Marketing and Customer Service Excellence. Paul is Alliance's Director of Marketing & Partnerships and has over 25 years leisure and hospitality experience. As a trainer and mentor Paul is known as one of the leisure sectors most motivating and impactful trainers, initiating positive change in all he works with.

Since graduating in Medicine in 1985, Dr Mike Loosemore has gained a great deal of experience having been actively involved in sport and exercise medicine since 1996. His current posts include: Consultant in Sport and Exercise Medicine within the NHS, at the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health, University College London, where he treats the general public with musculoskeletal and sports injuries He is also working to promote exercise as a preventative intervention and treatment in many medical conditions.

He is one of the lead Sports Physician for the English Institute of Sport, based at The Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health at University College London Hospital where he treats elite athletes from a wide range of sports, he is currently the doctor to the British Olympic Boxing and British Snow sports, teams. He has travelled extensively with national squads, accompanying teams to Olympic and Commonwealth Games, World and European Championships. He was the Chief Medical Officer for the England Commonwealth Games team in New Delhi 2010 and Glasgow 2014. His private practice is at the Centre for Health and Human Performance, 76 Harley St.

Dr Loosemore is active in various fields of sport and exercise medicine research and has published work on various aspects of SEM. He is interested in education of future SEM doctors and is an associate dean and head of speciality for sport and exercise medicine in London.In 2011 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science for services to sports and exercise medicine. In 2014 he was awarded the Robert Atkins award for consistently valuable medical service to sport. Dr Loosemore recognises that the lack of physical activity is the public health issue at the beginning of the 21st century; he currently leads the ‘Exercise is Medicine’ task force in the UK. He is the co founder of Active Movement a programme that increases physical activity in people of all ages.

Dr Davina Deniszczyc joined Nuffield Health as London Clinical Lead GP in 2010. During her time with organisation, Davina has worked as Professional Head of Physicians, Wellbeing Medical Director, Charity and Market Development Director and most recently Charity and Medical Director. Having graduated from the University of Manchester in 2003, Davina trained as a GP and in 2007 she gained membership to the Royal College of General Practitioners.

During her time as a GP, Davina identified a lack of resources and the inadequate focus on preventative medicine in the NHS. In an attempt to tackle this, she set up independent Wellness Clinics within some of her GP surgeries. Now in her role, Davina is responsible for developing activities focused on improving health and wellbeing right across the spectrum from prevention through to cure, providing significant and measurable health and wellbeing benefits to more people. Davina also continues her work as a GP once a week.

Jon is responsible for raising the profile of the profession with the public and other external audiences. He previously worked in local newspapers, here and in Australia.

Anna is Programme Manager at the National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine-Sheffield and also Lead Allied Health Physical Activity Clinical Champion at Public Health England.She is a Chartered Physiotherapist with a special interest in physical activity and healthy ageing & she worked in the NHS for many years.This was followed by policy roles at Public Health England and NHS England.Anna now leads a number of large, collaborative research projects alongside Sheffield's Physical Activity Strategy 'Move More'.

Tom is a Muscle physiologist with a research interest in the mechanisms underpinning muscle strength and adaptations to these with resistance exercise. Tom works as a Senior Research Fellow in the Physical Activity and Public Health research group at the Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre, Sheffield Hallam University. Tom runs the Strength 4 Life programme which co-ordinates Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists alongside strength and conditioning coaches and exercise scientists to enable older adults and people with long term conditions to safely undertake strength training.

Dale is a regular educator/presenter at Health and Rehabilitation conferences such as Therapy Expo in the UK. He is a musculoskeletal Physiotherapist, Clinician, Ex-University Lecturer, Researcher and Fitness Enthusiast.

Dale is an ex-Army Physio, who specialises in Manual Therapy and Exercise Prescription. He focusses on injury prevention, Functional Movement Screening and using movement as medicine. He has a special interest in injury prevention for Combat Sports, CrossFit and the Military.

Dale has been using KT Tape for 10 years for both injury prevention and rehabilitation. He regularly uses taping at CrossFit competitions from grass-roots to the professional athletes.

Dale is a champion for exercise, as both a Yoga teacher and CrossFit coach he understands how to bring balance to the nervous system. Using a holistic approach of Breathing, Nutrition, Acupuncture, Pilates and corrective exercise to help his clients with complex health requirements or athletic performance.

Dale is also the Physio for the charity, “Walking with the wounded” and CIC “Positive adventure,” both of which work with Military Veterans.

Mel has worked for a number of major global brands and start-ups throughout her 20-year career in fitness, from Technogym to MYZONE and TRX. Today she is best known as joint-founder of CAWS, the online education company for the fitness workforce, and as co-host of The Real Fitness Podcast.

At CAWS Mel focuses on elevating the role of the coach and the club through education and by building better networks across health, sport, science, communities and brands.

Sue has over 30 years’ experience in the fitness industry as a group ex Instructor, PT and International Fitness presenter, developing programming and education in the UK and America for brands including TRX, TriggerPoint, and Total Gym. Throughout the pandemic Sue represented the group exercise sector, working with the government to support instructors and ensure they were able to get back teaching face to face. As part of this work Sue authored the Group Ex Support Pack and Return to Play guidelines. Sue work for instructors continues – she is currently in talks with PRS for Music to seek simpler, more cost-effective music solutions for the sector.

Gillian is Head of Group Exercise for Third Space. She has experience in business management and building communities having successfully run her own yoga studio and has consulted on a number of group exercise based projects both within four walls and digitally within the public and private sectors.

Will is a 20 year veteran of the fitness industry, starting his career at Les Mills in New Zealand at age 18 while studying law at university.

Will has held senior roles at both Les Mills and Beachbody, where he was responsible for content creation and business growth. He has complemented this with legal and commercial experience focussed on digital technology and software platforms. Career highlights include working on the first commercial VOD platforms at both ITV plc and Channel 5, leading the commercial legal team at Deliveroo, and as General Manager of ClassPass UK where he worked closely with gyms and studios to promote the growth of the fitness industry.

Will now focuses his time on SH1FT, the digital-first group fitness format he co-founded in 2016, as well as hosting the top rated Group Fitness Real Talk podcast. He is a leading expert on the evolution of digital fitness, and an advocate for the vital role fitness instructors play in building healthy communities.

A Soft Tissue Therapist by day, an ultra runner when he can and a human trampoline for his two toddlers the rest of the time, Matt loves a decent massage! After a BSc in Natural Sciences and 10 years in corporate business Matt started his original Soft Tissue Therapy training in 2017 following his “mental breakthrough” and subsequent mental health journey.

Matt quickly realised that progression was sorely needed in the education and teaching of manual techniques in MSK care, especially when it came to treating painful conditions. A scientist and nerd at heart, Matt loves to geek-out and translate the high level research into clinically useful information for therapists at all levels.

For Matt, an MSc in Cognitive & Clinical Neuroscience reinforced the need for therapists to genuinely understand what is happening under their hands and that “treatment” is far more than simply the modality we use. Matt truly believes that evidence-informed approaches should be taught right from the start of a therapists journey into practice, where complexity can be layered onto solid basic principles.

Tris qualified in Sports and Remedial Massage in 2014 and runs Move Massage Pro in Northamptonshire. Dissatisfied with the current quality of courses and available CPD, Tris attended courses from the most progressive pain scientists, researchers and physiotherapists, and always as the only massage therapist attending.

Having previously taught undergraduate research methods, statistics and cognitive psychology while carrying out post-graduate research at the University of Northampton, Tris is committed to developing evidence-based practice.

Awarded an MSc in Pain Management (with distinction) at Cardiff University in 2021 Tris’ dissertation investigated the research around Pain Neuroscience Education and has a special interest in the management of persistent pain, and cognitive biases in clinical practice.

Tris believes passionately that massage therapy is of great value and the way to improve the industry is to deliver the highest quality content at entry-level, informed by evidence and provide clear career pathways for those wishing to pursue a career in massage therapy.

Jay is an Elite Personal Trainer at Third Space. He started his career 15 years ago in South Africa training young athletes for sporting performance under the close tuition of a team of biokineticists (mostly rugby and hockey). Since then he has moved his career, education and training style in the direction of neurology and how to utilise neurological concepts to develop movement capacity, strength and recovery from injury.

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Internationally sought-after Sales Trainer and Mentor, Elite Closer, Author of ‘Open With A Close’ & Public Speaker.

I’ve spent my entire working life in sales, from cold-calling & knocking on doors at the age of 18, to negotiating large contracts in the corporate, retail and expert space (human to human, of course!)

My mission is to change the way the world sells and closes, using the perfect balance of emotion and logic, sales experience, human psychology and a tried and tested formula.

It became my mission to create a sales process that’s congruent, adaptable, proven to work, and that FEELS good!

And that’s when the ‘Open With A Close’ Philosophy was born.

My book Open With A Close has now been sold in over 15 countries around the world, with thousands of people implementing the philosophy to generate more leads and close more sales.

Nick James and I co-founded the Elite Closing Academy, a place for Entrepreneurs, Business Owners and Sales Teams to dramatically increase their sales without coming across as pushy or manipulative.

We offer certified, professional sales training, coaching and mentoring packages to sales teams and individuals around the world.

Dr. Gary Mendoza PhD., BSc. (Hons), RNutr Dr. Gary Mendoza’s background is in personal training. Gary holds both British and American qualifications in personal training. He represented GB at the first ever IDEA personal trainer’s convention in Washington USA.