We have had a successful post-Covid year here at Fitwise. Many of our events and conferences returned to on-site formats, and we continue to work with our healthcare association clients on their daily and long-term organisational goals. Fitwise were also shortlisted for the Best Association Events Team Award by the Association of British Professional Conference Organisers and were granted the Innovation & Resilience Award by the West Lothian Chamber of Commerce. Following a well-deserved break over the holidays, we hope to carry this momentum through to 2023.
The New Year also sees changes made to the Fitwise management structure. Long-time Managing Director, Neil Watt, will retire in the latter half of the year following a 4-month term serving as Chair of the business. Paul Harrison, previously the Director of Sales and Business Development, has been selected to take on the role of Managing Director effective January 1st. With a sound understanding of the business and a passion for the work that Fitwise does, Paul was a natural choice to assume the role.
We also took this opportunity to refine operations and restructure certain aspects of the organisation. Several new positions have been created to support Paul’s appointment, filled from Fitwise’s talented and capable managerial staff.
Jenny Elliot has been appointed as Director of Events and Connie Hume Director of Finance. The Fitwise Sales and Marketing departments have also now merged into one cohesive unit. These two areas of the business have long worked in close operational proximity, so this move came as a natural evolution of the business. Katie Hill, previously the Fitwise Head of Marketing, has been made Head of Sales and Marketing.
Reflecting on these changes, Paul Harrison stated “It is a huge honour to take on the role of Managing Director here at Fitwise, leadership is a privilege never a burden. All leaders are defined by their ability to surround themselves with a high performing team, I am delighted to say that within our senior management team we have that in abundance. We believe wholeheartedly in developing talent from within the business, this is demonstrated by our two recent Director appointments”.
Fitwise have a detailed team page available on their website should you wish to know more, as well as a series of blog posts which go into more depth on their employees’ experiences working at the business. The most recent post covered the new Managing Director, Paul Harrison, with previous posts interviewing Katie Hill and Jenny Elliot. These are available on the Fitwise website, along with other insights from the PCO and association management veterans, and will continue throughout 2023.