Crunch Fitness Announces Key Leadership Appointments, Including Naming Molly Long, Chief Experience Officer

Additional moves include promoting Chad Waetzig as Chief Marketing Officer, promoting Tim Welsh to Chief Development Officer, and hiring Pam Brown as Vice President, Head of People and Culture

NEW YORK, March 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Crunch Fitness, a leading high-value, low-price gym, today announced several key leadership changes that will help position the company for continued growth and success. The global fitness brand is pleased to announce that Molly Long is joining the company as Chief Experience Officer. In this new role, Long will be responsible for driving enhancements to the membership experience and improving the entire member journey.

Long has a longstanding track record for leading transformational change for large organizations, including 7-Eleven. As Vice President of Store Innovation + Store Design, she oversaw all design-related activities for the physical store and the member experience. Additionally, Long founded the Store Evolution group, which reshaped the member experience, launched new innovations, and overhauled the company's store design standards. She also led the company's efforts in growing 7-Eleven's Private Brands organization into a multi-billion-dollar business.

"As Chief Experience Officer, Molly Long will play an important role in advancing the overall membership experience and satisfaction at Crunch, from sign-up to daily visits to our gyms, all while driving brand growth and success," said Jim Rowley, Worldwide CEO of Crunch. "Molly's passion for the member experience and her track record of delivering exceptional results make her the ideal candidate for this position."

"I am thrilled to join the team as Chief Experience Officer and to have the opportunity to deliver exceptional experiences to Crunch members," said Molly Long. "With Crunch's strong commitment to innovation and member satisfaction, I look forward to working with our talented team to continue creating experiences that exceed member expectations."

Additional Crunch announcements include:

Chad Waetzig Promoted to Chief Marketing Officer

Crunch is pleased to promote Chad Waetzig to Chief Marketing Officer, where he will lead worldwide marketing strategy and execution to drive growth, revenue, and member retention. Formerly Executive Vice President of Marketing and Branding, Waetzig led Crunch's marketing and communications efforts for all locations globally, focusing on strategically growing the company's brand presence and member base while driving marketing innovation and brand loyalty.

"We are pleased to promote Chad Waetzig to Chief Marketing Officer," said Rowley. "Chad has a proven track record of delivering strong results in our marketing efforts, and we are confident that he will continue to achieve great success and propel Crunch forward in his role as CMO."

"I'm honored to be recognized and promoted to CMO," said Chad Waetzig. "I continue to be energized by the creativity and innovation our team delivers every day and remain focused on working closely with our Crunch teams and franchisees to deploy marketing strategies that resonate with consumers and allow us to exceed our growth goals."

Tim Welsh Promoted to Chief Development Officer

Tim Welsh has been promoted from Senior Vice President of Development to Chief Development Officer, overseeing real estate, design, and construction for Crunch. With more than 20 years of experience helping grow brands at scale, Welsh is a real estate and development leader with a passion for finding creative solutions to complex problems that expertly balance member needs with business results.

"I am proud to take on this new role of Chief Development Officer with Crunch," said Tim Welsh. "In partnership with our franchise network, I look forward to this phase of Crunch's development and continuing to grow the brand's footprint at an unparalleled pace."

Pam Brown Appointed as Vice President, Head of People and Culture

Pam Brown has been appointed Vice President, Head of People and Culture for Crunch Fitness. She will partner with the business to design, develop and implement strategies to attract, engage, and develop employees and build upon a high-performance culture. Brown is a transformational leader and diversity, equity, and inclusion champion with proven success in partnering across all business lines to align talent with organization goals.

Previously she was the Senior Director, Human Resources with Gallagher Global Brokerage, where she provided talent leadership and delivered expertise and support in employee relations, engagement, feedback, coaching, onboarding, off-boarding, and succession planning. She also served on their National diversity, equity, and inclusion taskforce.

"I am honored to join Crunch as Vice President, People and Culture and to be able to work with such a talented and dedicated group of individuals," said Brown. "I'm excited to build on the company's No Judgments and member-first culture and further foster innovation, collaboration, and growth with a focus on employee engagement, diversity, equity and inclusion, and talent management."

Rowley added,

"We are delighted to announce these key leadership moves that reflect our ongoing commitment to driving growth, innovation, and exceptional membership experiences. Chad and Tim have played an integral role in our success to date, and I am pleased to welcome Molly and Pam to the Crunch team. I believe their expert experience and vision will be a valuable asset in our commitment to delivering exceptional value to our members at Crunch and a meaningful, productive workplace for all Crunch team members."

Crunch is a gym that believes in making serious exercise fun by fusing fitness and entertainment and pioneering a philosophy of 'No Judgments.' Crunch serves a fitness community for all kinds of people with all types of goals, exercising all different ways, working it out at the same place together. Today, we are renowned for creating one-of-a-kind group fitness classes and unique programming for our wildly diverse members. Headquartered in New York City, Crunch serves two million members with over 400 gyms worldwide in 36 states, the District of Columbia, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Portugal, Puerto Rico, and Spain. Crunch is rapidly expanding across the U.S. and around the globe.

SOURCE Crunch