The Club Industry Executive Summit kicked off on Oct. 17 at the Renaissance Chicago Downtown Hotel in Chicago with the invitation-only CEO Summit in the afternoon and a welcome reception in the evening.
The CEO Summit, which is geared to the owners and C-suite of the top revenue-generating clubs and studios in the country, attracted about 70 attendees. They heard a case study from Donato Tramuto, founder of Health eVillages and co-founder of the TramutoPorter Foundation, about his experience when he led Tivity Health.
They then heard the latest research from ABC Fitness Solutions, released first at the CEO Summit, about consumer sentiment about clubs and how that might impact pricing. The research was presented by Cristine Kao, chief marketing officer of ABC Fitness.
The CEO Summit concluded with a panel moderated by Peter Moore of Integrity Square on the prospects for growth in the fitness industry. Panelists were Jeff Riney, COO, The St. James; Kaumil Gajrawala, managing director, Credit Suisse; and Mohammed Iqbal, CEO, Sweatworks.
The CEO Summit was sponsored by Matrix Fitness, ABC Fitness and ROR Partners.
In the evening, Club Industry hosted a welcome reception for the fuller event, the Club Industry Executive Summit, which kicks off on Oct. 18 with a keynote by Tramuto. About 200 people are registered for the event, which continues through lunch on Oct. 19 with optional afternoon events, the Medical Fitness Forum (put on by the Medical Fitness Association) and the Not-for-Profit Workshop, put together by Jason Stowell, JCC consultant.