interview
CARL LIEBERT
The president and CEO of US-based 24 Hour Fitness talks to Kate Cracknell about leading his team to change
“M
oving into the fitness industry six years ago was the first
time I had been in a retail environment where I was selling only what people really needed, as opposed to what they wanted,” says Carl Liebert, president and CEO of 24 Hour Fitness. Liebert started his professional life
as a naval offi cer – “I look back to that experience, at the young age of 22, as invaluable in developing me as a leader” – before family commitments brought him back to his home town of Indiana, where he joined General Electric. “I did a host of jobs, from running manufacturing plants to sales and marketing to selling extended warranties and service plans. It was nine years of very good leadership training at a time when Jack Welch was CEO – an opportunity to learn from someone I believe to be one of the best. “I loved retail, so I then went to an
electronics company, Circuit City. We had 600+ stores around the US and by the time I left I was running around 350 of those, across 22 states, as division president. I then spent three and a half years with Home Depot, leaving as executive vice president, head of stores. At the time we had a little over 2,000 stores and 300,000 employees in the US and Mexico, and were also just starting our growth in Canada and China.
“And then I got one of those phone calls making me an offer I couldn’t refuse, and it came from Ted Forstmann. Forstmann Little & Company had bought 24 Hour Fitness in 2005 as part of a private equity portfolio, and in October 2006 Ted talked me into coming in to run a fi tness company.
“In October I will celebrate my
sixth year with 24 Hour Fitness, and I genuinely hope I never, ever leave this industry. It’s inspiring, engaging and fun. I’ve spent most of my career in retail, and as I say that sometimes means selling people things they don’t really need – a fourth TV, new windows for their house… What I love about health, wellness and fi tness is that we’re selling people something they need and that we want to provide. It’s really easy to be excited to come to work every day.”
Refi ning the model Just last month, 24 Hour Fitness was put up for sale by Forstmann Little & Company, with reports suggesting that it could fetch as much as US$2bn. Liebert explains: “We’ve had 10 straight quarters of year-on-year club growth and have a fantastic year in progress right now. We’ve made sure we have a great company for them to put on the market.” It’s been a tough few years for health club operators – indeed, for business as a whole. How has 24 Hour Fitness
32 Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital
weathered the storm and emerged as such a strong asset? “Even though member attrition spiked during the recession, as a result of being in the value segment of the market we benefi ted from people moving out of country club-style memberships and into our clubs. We actually grew membership and earnings throughout the recession,” says Liebert. “We’re doing some very exciting things across our portfolio as well. In our history we’ve gone through evolutions: we’ve had periods where we’ve built clubs of a certain size, acquired other clubs
september 2012 © cybertrek 2012
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