3. Lynne Brick
Lynne Brick, a former member of the IHRSA Board of Directors, played a key role in creating the Julie Main Scholarship (now the Woman Leader Award in honor of Julie Main) and establishing IHRSA’s Women’s Leadership Summit. Lynne lead the coalition in Maryland that ultimately defeated an attempt to tax health club memberships in the state.
The Brick’s business started in 1982 with a part time aerobics studio, and has since grown into a multi club business serving over 375,000 members, including five Brick Bodies coed and two Lynne Brick’s women-only clubs in Baltimore, and 60 Planet Fitness franchises in four states and Washington, D.C.
In 2007, the state of Maryland proposed an expansion to the sales tax to include health club dues and services. Lynne Brick and the Maryland coalition fought back. Lynne notes that her most memorable experience as part of the Industry Leaders Club (ILC) was “when we defeated the expansion of the sales tax in Maryland. We recruited bus loads of members and staff in addition to other clubs in our region and stormed the capital of Annapolis, Maryland. We starting chanting ‘Don’t tax health’ and doing push-ups in front of the building where the hearings transpired, called ‘Lawyers Mall.’” Lynne spoke in front of the chamber, explaining “that sitting is the ‘new smoking’ and as a state we need to encourage citizens to move, not inhibit or create barriers by including health club memberships under the expansion of the sales tax”. The coalition ultimately won, defending Maryland clubs against a sales tax.
4. Anastasia Yusina
Anastasia Yusina is a founding member of the IHRSA European Council, and 2011 IHRSA European Club Leadership Award winner, which recognizes a club leader who has advanced their company and the industry through strong leadership and performance in the European market.
Yusina and husband Alexy started Strata Partners 10 years ago with one club. The company has since grown to 33 clubs, two brands—Orange Fitness and City Fitness—in three countries, and serves over 70,000 members. She is also president of Fitness System Holding and developer of the Gravity Studio microGym concept in Florida. One of her brands, City Fitness, is a medical rehabilitation center offering a range of medical rehab, fitness, and diagnostics services, focusing on sports and post-trauma treatment. Yusina said, “we want to show our clients that fitness is more than a preventative health tool—it’s also able to make people healthy again.”