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Richard Beddie, Chief Executive of ExerciseNZ and Chief of staff to the International Confederation of Registers for Exercise Professionals (ICREPs), has been called to serve as a voting members of the Board of Directors for the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA).

Beddie, along with Ori Gorfine, President of US Fitness Holdings, will assume positions on the Association’s Board, with the New Zealander representing IHRSA’s Global Health and Fitness Alliance, a group of international senior industry leaders and stakeholders.

Announcing the appointments, IHRSA said Board Chair, Chris Craytor, Chief Executive of acac Fitness & Wellness Centers and Chief Executive of Welld Health, advised “as we move further into a new legislative session in the nation’s capital, IHRSA Board of Directors’ work is critical in helping the association raise our profile as an industry and work to secure passage of important legislation like the PHIT Act.

“Each member’s experience and diverse background helps ensure that IHRSA continues to reflect the important role our industry plays in helping consumers achieve better physical and mental health.

“I appreciate Ori and Richard’s investment of time and energy to support the association and industry, and to continue our work of guiding IHRSA’s ongoing transformation in the days ahead.”

A multi-club owner prior to taking on his role with ExerciseNZ (of which he is a former President) ICREPs, Beddie has extensive governance experience in global exercise and recreation bodies and he is currently Vice Chair of IHRSA’s Global Health & Fitness Alliance Advisory Council.

He earned both a BSc in statistics and a MBA from the University of Canterbury, specialising in the fitness industry.

Today Beddie said he was privileged to be able to help the IHRSA on its journey, commenting "the last few years made it very clear that more global collaboration was needed for our industry to successfully navigate the lack of recognition of our industry on the health continuum.

“I look forward to working with the rest of the IHRSA board on this and other key issues for our industry.

"Ultimately it’s all about supporting more people to access the benefits of structured exercise globally.“

Beddie has been a staunch campaigner for years to encourage New Zealanders to get more active and reap the benefits of exercising.

Concerned about New Zealand's population having an unacceptably low level of physical activity, as identified by the first ever World Health Organization (WHO) report on global physically inactivity last year, Beddie commented "New Zealand is actually one of the worst countries in the world for being energetic and exercising. 48% of Kiwi adults don't hit global activity targets

“But it's even worse among children and teenagers an alarming percentage of them are not active enough.

"New Zealand is often seen as a sports-mad country but Aotearoa is becoming a nation of inactive people.”

The WHO has asked the New Zealand Government to collaborate with the exercise industry to improve activity levels with Beddie has frequently offering to help the government.

IHRSA
IHRSA, the global health and fitness association, is a not-for-profit trade association representing the global fitness industry of over 200,000 health and fitness facilities and their suppliers.

Founded in 1981, IHRSA maintains a leadership role in advancing physical activity, which is critical for peak health and to fight the battle against obesity and chronic lifestyle diseases.

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