Town Sports International (TSI), New York, announced yesterday the appointment of Executive Chairman Patrick Walsh to the role of chief executive officer, effective Sept. 30. Walsh also will assume the duties of chief operating officer. Current COO Greg Bartoli is leaving the company, and the two positions will consolidate.
Walsh will fill the vacancy left by former company CEO Dan Gallagher, who left the company in June 2015 for undisclosed reasons. In the interim, Walsh took over executive duties within TSI while the board of directors sought a new CEO. Prior to Gallagher’s resignation, Walsh was chairman of the board.
“Greg [Bartoli] joined TSI over a year ago and contributed his extensive financial and entrepreneurial expertise to strengthening our organization,” Walsh said in a company-issued press release. “As a result of Greg’s time at TSI, we are a leaner, more efficient and more profitable organization. Greg led the way towards strengthening club financials, exploring new business ventures, renegotiating our leases and strengthening our balance sheet while engaging in organizational changes that allowed for stronger club leadership. These initiatives led to more than $40 million of savings annually and significant increases in the company’s EBITDA. I am extremely proud that these accomplishments were achieved in less than 12 months time.”
In the same statement, Walsh said his formal shift into the role of CEO will “continue [TSI’s] strategic efforts to evolve as a more efficient and streamlined organization.”
Outside of TSI, Walsh is an activist investor and has held stakes in numerous restaurant companies such as Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, BJ's Brewhouse and Denny's, as detailed in an Aug. 2015 profile in Forbes.
This May, TSI underwent another major personnel shift when former CEO and then-board chairman Bob Giardina resigned for undisclosed reasons.
TSI ranked No. 6 on this year’s Club Industry 2016 Top 100 Health Clubs list, even though it was the only non-hospital-based facility to report a revenue decrease in 2015. Last year was the fourth-straight year TSI reported a revenue decrease ($424.32 million, a 6.5 percent drop from 2014). Despite this, the company reported record membership numbers (541,000) in 2015 across its 150-plus properties.