You've become involved in advocacy, education, partnerships—even international initiatives. What's tying all of these efforts together?

They all come back to one idea: population health. We've spent decades operating in a reactive healthcare system instead of a proactive one. We wait until people become sick, injured, or disabled before we intervene. I think health clubs are uniquely positioned to change that conversation.

Whether I'm meeting with policymakers, working with universities, or partnering with clubs, I'm asking the same question: How do we create healthier communities before healthcare becomes necessary? That's why advocacy matters. That's why education matters. That's why partnerships matter. They're all different paths toward building healthier communities.

Why does advocacy matter so much to you personally?

I understand that one voice can’t change much on its own. But I’m involved with organizations like HFA that are doing advocacy work—we had 130 people at the Fly-In working toward one mission. When you bring large numbers of voices together with prominent, vocal figures who are already creating change in their own communities, change can happen.

Health club operators often hesitate at the idea of investing in adaptive programming. What’s your answer to that?

Accessibility is not an expense line on the balance sheet; it’s a growth strategy. The question isn’t whether integration is going to happen in this industry—it’s who’s going to lead it.

I built a 10-step process specifically so clubs don’t have to bite off more than they can chew. It starts with education. From there it moves into building referral partnerships with rehab hospitals, physical therapy clinics, and adaptive sports programs in the community because those clients are going to need somewhere to go once their insurance runs out. This goes beyond just community service; it's a referral ecosystem for sustainable growth.

The Perfect Step was launched at the Claremont Club. Unfortunately, the club closed during the pandemic, but The Perfect Step continued. Why was the program successful at the Claremont Club?

In the year we implemented our program, member attrition fell to an industry low of 13%, a nine-point improvement over the year before. Employee turnover dropped from 12.8% to 9%, also an industry low.

When we asked our members why they stayed, they told us it was because we’d created a set of values around acceptance, inclusion, and empathy that they wanted to raise their own children with. Our employees said programs like The Perfect Step gave them a sense of meaning and purpose.

That year alone, we recouped roughly 3,400 billable units, about $500,000 in non-dues revenue and another half-million in retained dues revenue from members we otherwise would have lost.