Industry News
- Karch International Inc. (McLean, Va.) has joined with Advanced Information Network Systems Inc. (AINS) of Rockville, Md., to form Karch International LLC. By joining with AINS, a well-established company that specializes in developing information technology solutions, the new Karch becomes an end-to-end provider of technology solutions within the health and fitness industry. Donald Gauger, former COO of AINS, became the president and COO of the new Karch.
- Chek.com (www.chek.com), a leading e-communication infrastructure provider with a current customer base of more than 4 million users, signed a deal with Fitness Venture Group to provide free Web-based e-mail on www.goldsgym.com, the Web site of Gold's Gym International Inc. The new e-mail service will allow customers to show their brand loyalty to one of the most famous health club chains every time they send or receive an e-mail free of charge.
- Futrex Inc. (Gaithersburg, Md.) and Zelcore Inc. (Hagerstown, Md.) recently introduced HealthGuard, a new line of self-serve fitness analysis kiosks. HealthGuard is a line of stand-alone systems designed to measure body composition, blood pressure and pulse rate without the need for an attendant. They are well suited for health clubs, corporate wellness centers or any other organization that wants to offer clients fast, easy and accurate fitness assessments, ranging from blood pressure and pulse to a complete body composition analysis that includes body fat percentage and a complete fitness analysis report.
FitLinxx Partners with HealthSouthSTAMFORD, Conn.—FitLinxx has formed a strategic alliance with HealthSouth, one of the nation’s largest providers of outpatient and rehabilitative health care services. As part of the alliance, HealthSouth, which provides physical therapy services to more than a million patients per year, is working with FitLinxx to transition patients from therapy to an ongoing exercise program at FitLinxx-equipped facilities.The companies are piloting the program in five cities. In addition, the FitLinxx System has been installed at HealthSouth’s flagship Birmingham, Ala., facility and a Virginia Beach, Va., facility for use by patients during rehab. The first stage of the relationship between the companies includes an equity investment in FitLinxx by HealthSouth, the creation of several HealthSouth-certified programs to be deployed on the FitLinxx network for patients leaving rehab, installation of the FitLinxx System into HealthSouth facilities and the introduction of pilot programs in additional cities. “We are excited about working with HealthSouth because it provides us with an ideal opportunity to demonstrate the value of our network to the health care community as a means to seamlessly extend the continuum of care to include wellness and exercise,” said Keith Camhi, CEO and co-founder of FitLinxx. |
Cybex's Haines RetiresMEDWAY, Mass.—Cybex International has announced that Peter Haines will retire from his position as president and CEO effective Dec. 31 to “pursue personal interests.”John Agliaro, chairman of Cybex, will serve as CEO of the company during the search for a new president. Haines will assist in the search. Haines has been president and CEO of Cybex since the company merged with Trotter Inc. in May of 1997. He was president of Trotter from 1983 to 1997. |