Dana Milkie, the general manager of EGYM North America, explains how the best is yet to come for EGYM.
Dana Milkie got his start working at a publicly traded company on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) strategy and was traveling extensively around the world. Ultimately, he knew he wanted to find something that allowed him to have a greater impact on his community and be at home more.
An opportunity opened at a Gold’s Gym franchise group that was looking to expand in Seattle, Washington, introducing him to the fitness industry.
“Although I had no experience running fitness clubs at the time, my M&A experience helped me fit in perfectly,” said Milkie. “Through that experience, I was recruited to ABC Financial, now ABC Fitness, as their senior vice president of client management. The next step in my journey was to become the CEO of InTouch Technology, the pioneering CRM software for the fitness industry.”
During his time with ABC and InTouch, Milkie said he was fortunate to meet John Ford, who is now the chief product officer of EGYM. As two technology leaders in the fitness industry living in the Seattle area, Ford and Milkie talked frequently about how innovative EGYM was and how Milkie’s experience would be a great fit.
“I kept an eye on where EGYM was going and the differentiation they were creating in the industry,” explained Milkie. “The more I saw from them, the more excited I got. I’ve always been a believer the future of fitness — as it relates to technology — is now. It was very evident to me that EGYM was the clear leader. So, I jumped onboard with EGYM in 2020 and am now fortunate to be the general manager of EGYM North America.”
Even though Milkie didn’t originally get his start in the fitness industry, through connections and collaborations he’s found his perfect career match.
“I plan on finishing my career doing what I love,” said Milkie. “I couldn’t think of a better company to do that with than EGYM. I’ve always loved and advocated for bringing technology to the fitness industry and I’m in the perfect position to continue to do that.”
EGYM was founded in 2010 by Philipp Roesch-Schlanderer and Florian Sauter with the goal of bringing fitness into the digital age through its proprietary Smart Strength equipment and software offerings, now found in over 16,000 clubs worldwide. The EGYM ecosystem includes:
- EGYM’s Smart Strength equipment.
- The Fitness Hub, a smart kiosk that allows clubs to quickly onboard new members.
- Smart Cardio integration with the top cardio providers.
- Branded member app and trainer app, along with 150-plus connected partners.
“Our ability to impact the entirety of a club’s membership base through technology has driven us forward,” said Milkie. “All health clubs have beginner, intermediate and advanced exercisers. It doesn’t matter what segment you’re talking about. We’ve been able to develop, through technology and software, the ability to engage with each of these groups to drive personalization and motivation.”
Additionally, EGYM is constantly innovating. The company works with operators to continuously look for new ways to create differentiated experiences and drive real ROI and member engagement that sets facilities apart.
EGYM is also innovating by leveraging AI and machine learning to drive member motivation and personalization. They’re continuing to build intelligence around an individual member and look to deliver the exact experience they want based on their goals, history and data.
“From an operator perspective, we look to help them build stronger communities within their clubs through personalized data,” said Milkie. “Ultimately, giving clubs deeper member insights creates more upsell opportunities, better member retention and improved operational efficiencies. Delivering ‘real ROI’ to operators is EGYM North America’s North Star.”
Overall, Milkie said their approach is to work closely with operators from strategic planning to concrete implementation and continuous member engagement. They believe by collaborating with clients, they can help a club maximize its open platform and ecosystem of products to drive real ROI and long-term growth.
With 14 years under the company’s belt, it’s just getting started with its innovation.
At IHRSA 2024, EGYM will unveil a new addition to its ecosystem that collects member workout data, learns from that data, and then applies it to the entire fitness floor and beyond. The feature promises to elevate and personalize a user’s individual workout experience as the AI learns from their exercise habits and creates a unique training plan accordingly. This latest innovation will deliver operators the ability to make their entire fitness floor ‘smart.’
EGYM is also expanding its line of Smart Strength equipment by delivering a best-in-class hip thrust machine at IHRSA. Given the emphasis on glute development in fitness, EGYM’s technology advantage gives us the ability to provide a highly effective machine.
As a company that’s constantly focusing on the next big technology, the best is yet to come for EGYM.
“I firmly believe we have a winning formula of putting the operator’s needs first and foremost, then leveraging the only open ecosystem in the fitness industry to deliver hyper-personalized experiences to their members,” said Milkie.
At the end of the day, EGYM’s passion is operator ROI, which is the key difference maker. “I love to help companies grow rapidly, and that is the path we are on at EGYM,” said Milkie.
