The Collective Wellness Group’ executive team has snagged former Chatime head of franchising and leasing, Ben Hemphill, as the new head of commercial.

Another top level recruit is Simon Thompson, who takes on the chief operating officer role.

The pair joins CWG co-founders, Justin McDonell, Richard Peil and David Mortensen as well as CEO, Arthur McColl and non-executive director, Margaret Zabel on the executive team.

Thompson was previously APAC director for virtual training program, Zwift. He was responsible for accelerating growth in the Asia Pacific region for the subscription based company through building teams and localising the platforms.

He worked for eight years at Trek Bicycle, including time as global director of sports marketing.

Thompson will support the brand and design and construction teams to accelerate network growth, operational execution, cross-brand and cross-functional collaboration at CWG.

On his appointment, Collective Wellness Group CEO, Arthur McColl said, ‘Simon was the perfect fit as the new COO of Collective Wellness Group and our brands. He’s been a part of the fitness industry for over 20 years, first as a professional athlete competing at the Olympics and Commonwealth Games, before moving into the business world and holding many senior leadership positions, both here in Australia and overseas. We are very excited to have him on board.”

Ben Hemphill notched up four years heading up franchising and leasing at bubble tea chain, Chatime. In his role at Chatime, Ben was responsible for developing and overseeing the recruitment process and strategic growth of the business.

Previously he worked as a senior consultant at DC Strategy with a number of brands including Carl’s Jr, Ben & Jerry’s and Flipout Trampolines to develop their strategy on market growth through franchising.

McColl said, “Ben brings with him a wealth of franchising experience which will help us to continue to drive and deliver the franchise sales and leasing targets for the year and set us up for a solid trajectory of growth into the future.”