As his 10-year anniversary at Club One approaches on June 2, Bill McBride says “it’s just time” to leave.
The San Francisco-based company announced last Friday that McBride will be stepping down as president and COO of Club One on July 31. The decision to leave is a mutual one with Club One, which said McBride's departure is part of a strategic shift for the company to expand its fitness and wellness management offerings and portfolio and will allow for organizational cost savings.
McBride will help guide a recently launched group fitness initiative at Club One’s location in Pleasanton, CA, where his wife, Adrienne, is the group fitness and Pilates director. He also is forming a consulting company called BMC3, which McBride says will launch in July at the FitLife Summer Conference in Bend, OR.
"Club One went through a restructuring a couple of years ago, and this is another iteration of what's necessary to restructure the company," McBride tells Club Industry. "They want to do more management, and I've always been coming more from the club company branding perspective.
"You know when it's just time. It's amicable. It's respectful. I'm working through July, and we're going to have ongoing relations. There's not a lot of drama to it."
McBride will formally end his tenure as chair of the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) Board of Directors on June 30 and will remain with IHRSA as a voting member of the board for one year. At the IHRSA show in March, Brent Darden, owner of Telos Fitness Center, Dallas, was announced as the incoming board chair.
McBride, a Club Industry advisory board member, says he will continue his work on the advisory board of Zuberance, a social media marketing company. McBride also says he wants to spend more time with his family. He and his wife have three children, ages 7, 5 and 3.
A native of North Carolina who began his career in the industry in 1986, McBride was formerly the senior vice president of sales and business development at Sport and Health, McLean, VA. At Club One, he was promoted from vice president of commercial clubs to COO in 2006. The president’s title was added in 2010.
Robin Klaus, chairman of the board and CEO of Club One, will retain his titles with the company as part of the restructuring of the company. Klaus replaced Jim Mizes as CEO in 2010. Club One board members Maigread Eichten, formerly of FRS, Pepsi and Symantec, and Clem Bason, CEO of Hotwire.com, join Klaus to form a new executive committee.
Club One said it has no immediate plans to name McBride's successor as president.
"As those in the industry know well, Bill is an exceptional leader with an incredible passion for fitness clubs," Klaus said in a statement. "We support this passion. That's why we're excited to continue to work with Bill to pilot a new group fitness concept launched earlier this year."
Additional restructuring efforts at Club One include the departures of Bonnie Wheatley, senior vice president of finance, and Tom Nelson, vice president of development. Both positions have been retained by Chief Financial Officer Skip Smith and Vice President of Development Frank Ancharski, respectively, the company announced.
Club One operates 85 clubs in 15 states. The company added 11 new partners last year and five new partners so far in 2013.
Club One was No. 18 on Club Industry's Top 100 Clubs list in 2012 with $80 million in reported 2011 revenue.