- Push-out Score determined
- After eight years in the position
- Praise and thanks for Gilchrist
- Ben Coates taking over temporarily
- Search for a successor
- Gilchrist said 86 words
(exechange) — Austin, Texas, July 26, 2022 — Adam Gilchrist, chief executive of F45, leaves. As announced by F45 Training Holdings Inc. in a news release and in a regulatory filing published on Tuesday, July 26, 2022, Adam J. Gilchrist has left his post as chief executive officer at the fitness franchisor, after eight years in the role, effective July 24, 2022.
F45 will undertake a search for a successor.
Adam Gilchrist’s duties as CEO will be taken over temporarily by Ben Coates, most recently Director at Coolgardie Investments, as Interim Chief Executive Officer.
Already a director
Coates is already a director of F45. Generally speaking, most director-turned-CEO appointments occur following a sudden resignation of the outgoing CEO and signal a lack of preparedness on the company’s part to groom internal talent. Directors-turned-executives represent a blend of outsider and insider.
They don’t have the constraints of a pure insider when it comes to leading painful changes or making unpopular decisions, and they have more company knowledge than a pure outsider.
Having been a director, Coates understands the expectations and dynamics of the board and has knowledge of F45’s organization, risk-management practices and strategy.
“To align the Company more closely with macroeconomic conditions and current business trends”
F45 did not give an explicit reason for Adam Gilchrist’s departure from the CEO post. F45 said: “F45 Training Holdings Inc. (“F45” or the “Company”) (NYSE: FXLV), the fastest growing fitness franchisor in the world according to Entrepreneur, today announced strategic updates to align the Company more closely with macroeconomic conditions and current business trends and prepare for the next phase of studio and membership growth.”
Precise information regarding Adam Gilchrist’s future plans was not immediately available.
“Stepping down”
F45 said: “On July 26, 2022, the Company announced that President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, Adam J. Gilchrist, will be stepping down, effective as of July 24, 2022 (the “separation date”). Mr. Gilchrist will remain a director of the Company and the Board will appoint a new Chairman.”
F45 further said: “After founding F45 in 2013 and successfully leading the Company for the last decade, President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board of Directors Adam J. Gilchrist has stepped down, effective June [sic!] 24, 2022. This transition will allow his successor to establish and execute new opportunities amid changing macroeconomic and business conditions.”
Share price decline since August 2021
The announcement follows a decline in F45 Training Holdings Inc.’s share price of 75% since August 2021.
In the position of CEO since 2014
Adam Gilchrist became CEO of the Company in 2014.
Gilchrist will remain on the Board as a director and the Board of Directors will appoint a new Chairman.
Adam Gilchrist is a serial entrepreneur with 20 years’ experience in franchising, marketing and product development.
Gilchrist co-founded the Company and has served as Co-Chief Executive Officer since 2014, a member of the Company’s board of directors since 2017, and Executive Chairman since July 2021.
In 2019, he was appointed as sole Chief Executive Officer.
The first business he founded was an e-payment service in Australia, which he sold to a public company.
The second business he founded was Zippy Shell, a successful mobile self-storage company in the United States.
Gilchrist also represented Australia in the Australian Schoolboy and U19 Rugby Teams and attended the Australian Institute of Sport on scholarship.
Push-out Score determined
The Push-out Score™ determined by exechange gauges the pressure surrounding Adam Gilchrist’s move on a scale of 0 to 10.
exechange reached out to F45 and offered the company the opportunity to comment on the score.
Read the full story in the exechange report 31.2022 ($).