#645, Humphrey Michael COBBOLD

Humphrey was appointed CEO of Pure Gym in January 2015. Following his MBA from Insead he joined the Graduate Programme at McKinsey & Company.  From 1989 to 1991 he was Marketing Manager at Gower Furniture. In 1992 he rejoined global management consulting firm, McKinsey & Company where he became co-head of the UK media and corporate finance practices before being appointed Director of Strategic Development at Trinity Mirror (2003-2006) and Chairman of Fish4. Private equity experience was gained at Candover prior to his appointment as CEO of Wiggle. Between 2009 and 2015 he grew turnover from £30m to £170m and launched Wiggle's international business across Europe, Australasia and China.

Pure Gym considered floating in 2016 but decided against it due to Brexit uncertainty. Expansion of the business continued in 2017 and in November it was announced that Pure Gym had been sold to Los Angeles-based Leonard Green and Partners for £600 million. The Financial Times quoted that the business was valued at £140 million in 2013.  The Danish gym business Fitness World with gyms also in Switzerland and Poland was added to the Group in 2019 along with Swiss Basefit CH and membership exceeded 1 million.  During the pandemic the business was said to be burning half a million pounds every day.  Recovery has been strong since and the well-capitalized business has 2 star accreditation by Best Companies with a score of 699.6 meaning an 'outstanding level of workplace engagement' and further investment was taking place in 2022.

By arrangement with Leonard Green and Partners in 2025 Humphrey appointed Clive Chesser as his replacement as CEO and himself moved to the Chairman's role.  The business was healthily opening a new gym every month, the 400th being in Plymouth.  About concurrently Pure Gym acquired Blink Fitness out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy adding up to a further 67 gyms to the global estate, mainly in New York and New Jersey.  The business now has more than 600 locations and 2 million members.

Humphrey has said:  I would describe myself - from a business point of view - as an 'executional strategist'.  Over 25 years of experience across many business domains has helped me develop the capacity to 'read' markets strategically and develop clarity on the right direction for a business or enterprise.  Coupling this to a decade or so of hands-on business leadership and management has enabled me to develop a track record in executing and implimenting growth and performance improvement for businesses.  In parallel I have learned the importance of building strong and capable teams and organisations to make such performance sustainable.  My work objective is simple: to make a positive lasting impact on the business world and the people I work with.