Interview with Michael Bruno, Founder of Core Industries, LLC DBA Star Trac.
It was 1992 and I was in China working as the general manager of a joint venture bicycle company that was failing miserably. I knew I had to do something else that involved global markets and relied on manufacturing from the standpoint of welding, cutting, bending and painting steel. The fitness industry came to mind, so I took the few thousand dollars I had to my name and started down a wonderful path.
I loved fitness and would always train in some way; nothing fanatical but I stayed in shape. What I saw was the potential growing market and I understood how the products could be made. Back then it was relatively easy to get started making simple benches and racks. So I took a chance.
Tricking my lovely wife into marrying me and then having three wonderful children. That is the best part of my life and greatest success.
We offer a wide range of outstanding products that address the needs of most fitness facility operators, from budget to high end clubs. Our strategic relationship with Spinning® helps facilities deliver great program experiences on the Spinner® bikes and alliances with companies like Netpulse, as well as our own technologies, enable us to deliver unique entertainment experiences for members. If you’ve seen our new Leverage® line of strength equipment, you’ll hopefully understand that we’re very focused on the member experience. Of course we provide start up support and a group of business development pros who understand the industry and their respective vertical markets very well. They offer guidance and advice to our customers every day.
There are a number of great companies out there that we compete with. They actually make us better. However, if there is one thing I would say that sets us apart it’s our ability to turn on a dime. Whether we’re correcting problems, evolving our strategies or bringing new products to market, because we are privately held held, we don’t spend a lot of time talking about what to do, we just do it.
We continually strive to improve service and quality for our entire portfolio of products and brands. Every day we make progress in this respect. I want everyone to know this is my top priority and I focus on it intensely every day. We will not settle for mediocrity.
We are a global company and serve most major fitness facility brands and vertical markets around the world. We have a significant share of the over 135,000 clubs that according to IHRSA’s last account make up the global club market today. During the past year, I’ve had the pleasure of personally working with many of the leaders of these global and U.S. brands. Working with customers is something I love to do and it’s something our entire company enjoys.
We will be showing a completely revamped proof of concept commercial TreadClimber at IHRSA. I am thrilled by what our product development team, headed up by Kevin Corbalis, has accomplished with this product. As you might know, the TreadClimber was a huge success globally when Nautilus originally launched it. I think this type of new product innovation, in addition to many other projects we are working on, will drive a lot of growth for our brand in the future.
We are going to raise the bar by delivering increasingly innovative solutions that help people achieve new levels of fitness and health, safely and enjoyably. Working in this industry to improve the quality of people’s lives is important to me. We need to reach more people so we can impact challenges like obesity and diabetes. I think we’ll make a big impact as the health and fitness industry grows in the coming years.
Product development and innovation are a big deal to both me and our President Dustin Grosz. Dustin has tremendous experience driving global operations and supporting product development. We have over 120 engineers dedicated to innovation. We are constantly looking at new opportunities. To be successful you always have to stay ahead of the curve. Because we are a private company, vertically integrated and very entrepreneurial, I think you’ll see our brands leading the way in key areas as the industry develops.
I’m a big sports fan and love football so if I was not in the fitness industry I’d love to be an NFL wide receiver. That would give me the chance to run patterns against guys like Kevin Einck and Terry Woods, the former Michigan third teamer. I think I’d definitely beat them both deep. -CS
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Rachel Zabonick-Chonko is the editor-in-chief of Club Solutions Magazine. She can be reached at rachel@peakemedia.com.
