Les Mills International has appointed Jason Paris as its new CEO as the global fitness company completes a planned leadership succession.

Paris will take up the role on 6 October, succeeding Phillip Mills, who has led the company as managing director for the past three years. Mills will remain with the business as founder/director and will support Paris during the transition.

Paris has held senior leadership roles across telecommunications, digital services and media in New Zealand and Europe. Most recently, he led the transformation of Vodafone New Zealand into One NZ. He was also involved in the transition of Telecom to Spark and the development of TVNZ OnDemand.

His appointment follows Mills’ three-year commitment to lead Les Mills International through a period of strategic and organisational development following the disruption caused by the Covid pandemic.

Paris said: ‘It’s an enormous privilege to be joining Les Mills International to help lead the next phase of growth. What Phillip, Jackie and the Mills family have built over many decades is one of New Zealand’s great business success stories.

‘I’ve always admired New Zealand brands that have a real impact globally, and Les Mills International has done exactly that. It has an outstanding team, an iconic brand and an incredible opportunity ahead.

‘Every great business I’ve worked in has one thing in common: obsession over the needs of the customer. Les Mills is a great example of this, with an incredible global network of instructors, club partners and participants. I can’t wait to start learning from these amazing people and supporting their success as we accelerate our mission to create a fitter planet.’

Mills said Paris brought ‘deep commercial expertise, a modern leadership style, and a clear passion for building high-performing teams and strong cultures’.

He added: ‘I stepped back into the leadership of the business following the departure of our previous CEO, with a clear three-year commitment to complete a strategy reset and return the company to solid growth following the disruption Covid caused across the global gym industry.

‘With the company on a strong footing and well-positioned for further expansion, now is the right time for me to hand over leadership to an energetic new CEO who can take us into our next exciting chapter.’

Paris has a longstanding personal connection with sport and fitness and has been a member of Les Mills New Zealand gyms for a number of years.

Les Mills International delivers more than 30 group training programmes, including BODYPUMP, BODYCOMBAT, BODYBALANCE, RPM and LES MILLS GRIT. Its programmes are delivered by more than 100,000 certified instructors in over 22,000 clubs across more than 100 countries.