Collective Wellness Group makes key executive team appointments

Leading health and fitness franchise management company, Collective Wellness Group (CWG), has announced the appointment of two new members to its executive team.

Simon Thompson joins Collective Wellness Group as the new Chief Operating Officer, while Ben Hemphill joins as the company’s new Head of Commercial.

The pair complete an already accomplished executive team, consisting of CWG co-founders, Justin McDonell, Richard Peil and David Mortensen; Chief Executive, Arthur McColl and non-Executive Director, Margaret Zabel.

Thompson joins the company after spending over a year as APAC Director for virtual training program, Zwift, where he was exposed to the world of technolgy and gaming while still playing in the fitness and sports industries that he is most passionate about.

At Zwift, he was responsible for accelerating growth in the Asia Pacific region for the subscription based company through building teams and localising the platforms to allow for targeted growth marketing efforts to compliment global sales and marketing initiatives.

Prior to that, Thompson worked at Trek Bicycle, and held a number of National and Global positions in Marketing, Sales, Retail and Sports Marketing over the span of eight years. His major accomplishment as Global Director of Sports Marketing was to drive the establishment of Trek Factory racing road cycling team (now Trek-Segafredo) and deliver the ROO for product development and marketing through the seven sports cycling programs.

In his role as Chief Operating Officer at CWG, Thompson will support the Brand and Design & Construction teams to accelerate network growth, operational execution, cross-brand and cross-functional collaboration.

On his appointment, Arthur McColl noted “Simon was the perfect fit as the new COO of Collective Wellness Group and our brands. He’s been a part of the fitness industry for over 20 years, first as a professional athlete competing at the Olympics and Commonwealth Games, before moving into the business world and holding many senior leadership positions, both here in Australia and overseas. We are very excited to have him onboard.”

Ben Hemphill joins the company as new Head of Commercial, following four years as Head of Franchise & Leasing at innovative bubble tea chain, Chatime. In his role at Chatime, Hemphill was responsible for developing and overseeing the recruitment process and strategic growth of the business.

Prior to working at Chatime, he was a Senior Consultant at DC Strategy where he worked with a number of brands including Carl’s Jr, Ben & Jerrys and Flipout Trampolines to develop their strategy on market growth through franchising.

On Hemphill’s appointment, McColl added “Ben brings with him a wealth of franchising experience which will help us to continue to drive and deliver the franchise sales and leasing targets for the year and set us up for a solid trajectory of growth into the future.”

Image shows the opening of Anytime Fitness Australia's 500th club at the end of last year.