The founder and former CEO, Randy Hetrick, and partner, Jack Daly, announced the acquisition of the iconic, global fitness brand, TRX. Hetrick founded TRX after inventing the Suspension Trainer as a SEAL team squadron commander and will now lead the company as chairman with Daly, who will serve as the CEO.
“It’s gratifying to be back at the helm of TRX at a time when the world is emerging from COVID-19 and the company needs inspired, innovative leadership,” said Hetrick. “TRX remains one of the fitness industry’s most recognizable and influential global brands, and under a new, experienced management team — powered by passion and renewed vision — our brand will build on its position as the most trusted name in fitness. I couldn’t be happier to be back and to have the opportunity to bring several of my best longtime teammates back with me.”
Hetrick founded TRX in 2004 after a career as a Navy SEAL and earning an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. Core to the brand’s rapid rise and global success was the TRX Suspension Trainer — a comprehensive functional fitness solution developed by Hetrick during his SEAL years as a means of maintaining peak fitness while deployed in remote locations without access to traditional gym equipment. Suspension Training quickly became a cornerstone to the broader functional fitness movement, with the iconic yellow and black straps becoming a requisite tool for personal trainers, health clubs and elite athletic training facilities globally. The company expanded its offering to a wide range of functional fitness tools, but also importantly, became a go-to source for education and trainer-certification through its vast digital library of functional training programs for fitness professionals and consumers.
Hetrick led TRX for more than 15 years before selling a controlling interest in the company and moved on to found the new outdoor mobile fitness venture, OutFit.
Excited by the opportunity to reacquire and revitalize the brand, Hetrick turned to friend and private equity veteran Jack Daly and his firm JFXD Capital. Daly, a former partner, and investment committee member of both Goldman Sachs’ Merchant Banking Division and TPG Capital, has a 25-year track record of investing in and building large companies through control transactions. Daly is also a fitness enthusiast and serves as the treasurer of the Navy SEAL Foundation, where he has served as member of the board of directors for over nine years.
“It’s a rare opportunity to acquire a brand that remains as well respected and revered as an innovator within its industry as TRX — the ability to leverage the incredible brand equity of TRX is what makes this such a compelling and worthwhile venture,” said Daly. “Everyone loves a comeback story. Powered by Randy’s knowledge of the brand, the industry, and his personal passion for this brand, coupled with new world-class management, there’s little doubt about the success that lies ahead for TRX.”
