Publications

Join key fitness industry players in this 30-minute session to learn about the Active & Safe Commitment––a new IHRSA initiative to reaffirm the health club industry’s unyielding dedication to safety at this time when exercise has never been more important to the communities we serve. At this time, the Active & Safe Commitment is an exclusive benefit for IHRSA members.

Developed by industry experts in accordance with the foremost public health guidance, the Active & Safe Commitment serves three main purposes:

1. To demonstrate the industry’s united commitment to safety for members, guests, and staff;
2. To provide health club members and guests with well-founded peace of mind during club visits; and
3. To reassure policymakers and public health officials that health clubs should not be shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, but rather should be relied upon as safe environments for exercise that can serve as, responsible, credible, and effective partners for reducing the pandemic’s catastrophic toll on physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing.

This webinar will review the new program and share steps you can take to apply it to your club.

Learning Objectives

• Understand what is expected of clubs who make the Active & Safe Commitment
• Learn why and how you can use this designation to your best advantage
• Learn how to apply to gyms, exercise studios, swimming pools, sports activities, spa and health suites

Presenter Profiles

Luke Carlson is the founder and CEO of Discover Strength based in Minneapolis, MN. Discover Strength's five personal training studios are among the highest volume and revenue training facilities in North America. Carlson is an ACSM Certified Exercise Physiologist and has a BS and MS in kinesiology from the University of Minnesota and graduated from the Executive Leadership, Strategy and Innovation program at Stanford University.

Kilian Fisher is IHRSA's international public policy advisor, UFIT global industry lead. Fisher has always had a passionate interest in improving the lives of everyone in an inclusive society. He has tried to follow that through in his various roles from managing fitness, sports, and leisure clubs in London and Dublin to his consultancy roles and as CEO of the Irish National Leisure Industry body. Fisher served on the IHRSA Board for four years including chairing IHRSA's Membership & Standards Committee. He represents IHRSA on the Business at OECD Health Task Force & OECD Expert in Prevention Public Health group advising the OECD and helping to influence and develop national and European government health care policies. He has always believed in quality standards to increase the credibility of health clubs globally. He led the development of the White Flag Standard for the industry in Ireland and set up REPS Ireland as Ireland's national register for fitness professionals and facilitated the M.O.U between IHRSA and ICREPS. Fisher is now the staff lead for th eIHRSA headlight teams on Standards and the Global Health & Fitness Alliance as well as being the lead IHRSA representative to the World Health Organization (WHO) and has been instrumental in the collaboration between IHRSA, WHO, UNESCO, WFSGI, and other key international stakeholders.

Emma Mason is the vice president for strategic and external affairs at the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI). A qualified solicitor with a specific focus on sports law and regulatory issues, Mason joined WFSGI in June 2018. She also leads WFSGI’s work to support the industry’s commitments to raise the awareness of the benefits of physical activity and sport and to increase levels of physical activity and sports participation, especially among young children.

As part of WFSGI’s response to COVID-19, Mason has led on WFSGI’s work with various international federations and organisations (including IHRSA) to produce guidelines to help safely resume sport and physical activity. Away from WFSGI, Mason is a former international badminton player. She remains passionate about her sport and is currently a Badminton Europe Board Member and a Badminton World Federation Council Member where she currently holds the positions of Chair of the Member Support Commission and Deputy Chair of Administration respectively. Mason is also committed to providing greater educational and mental health support for athletes transitioning from their sporting careers to life after sport and is a Trustee of Switch the Play Foundation.

She has an undergraduate degree in Chemistry, is a graduate of UK Sport’s International Leadership Programme and a WeAreTheCity Rising Star in Sport. Mason is also a keen runner and has completed two marathons raising funds for Kidney Research UK.

Jon Nasta has a wealth of experience in the industry from both a supplier and operators perspective. Noted for his expertise in member engagement and retention Nasta has held positions such as COO of Retention Management, sales director of Matrix Fitness, and marketing director for Xercise4Less.

Nasta is currently launching a new "social fitness" concept called "The Workout Bar" into the EU. In addition, he enjoys bringing the health club industries leading attrition defense systems such as Listen360 and KeepMe to the European, African and Middle East market. Services that now assist thousands of health clubs with engaging millions of members every week.

Brad Wilkins is the senior vice president of Cooper Aerobics Enterprises, Inc., and oversees the Cooper Fitness Center and the Cooper Spa in Dallas, TX. Wilkins joined Cooper Fitness Center as an intern in 1996 and since then, has taken on roles as a fitness trainer, fitness director, and general manager. Most recently, in 2015, he was named the chief operating officer of Cooper Wellness Strategies.