William W Dexter has taken up his new role as president of American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) – the world’s oldest and largest organisation focused on sports medicine and exercise science.

Dexter says: “ACSM has become a national and world leader. It’s now critical that our membership sees value and benefit from this extraordinary growth and change. We will also continue to engage the public, building on organisational relationships to build our brand and promote awareness.”

The Gym Group has named David Melhuish as its new head of property development. The role is a new one, and has been created to support plans to grow the company’s commercial property portfolio by up to 30 clubs a year.

The company, led by John Treharne, also intends to add a fourth acquisitions manager to its growing property team.

The two key roles were announced on the back of a £50m investment in new equity by Phoenix Equity Partners and prepares the budget gym chain for rapid expansion.

With an MSc in building services engineering and more than 20 years’ experience of property development and facilities management in the retail sector, Melhuish will oversee The Gym Group’s commercial portfolio. He will report to the property director and work alongside the acquisition managers.

Melhuish says: “This is a crucial and exciting time in the company’s history. The Gym has great brand awareness and has won countless awards in leisure and business circles. With new, strong financial backing and great governance, I believe I can make a significant contribution to the achievement of ambitious growth plans.”

Equipment supplier Precor has announced the appointment of Derek Burke as EMEA regional commercial director.

Burke’s appointment follows the imminent retirement of current president Paul Byrne, and Rob Barker’s subsequent appointment as Precor’s new president.

Burke joined the fitness industry in 2003, working as sales and marketing manager with one of Precor’s distribution partners – the KAAS group in the Middle East – and since 2006 has worked directly for Precor. He moves from his current position as sales director for Precor’s EMEA Export business, which he has held since 2009, to take up the responsibilities of EMEA regional commercial director.

During his time at Precor, Burke has been instrumental in leading the growth of Precor’s EMEA Export business – which covers areas including the Nordics, Russia, the Middle East and Africa – managing and developing a growing, multi-disciplined team.

Burke’s new role is based at parent group Amer Sports UK offices, although Burke will spend time travelling to other key Precor and Amer offices within EMEA markets as part of his remit to further develop the business.

Burke says: “These are extremely exciting times for Precor, where significant investment in research and development in recent years has led to heightened levels of growth and customer satisfaction. I’m honoured to now lead the strategic direction of the EMEA business.”

Rob Barker, Precor’s new president, adds: “Precor has a long and established track record of team development and succession planning. Derek’s skills and experience will be a tremendous asset to driving the business forward in this region.”

Precor is part of Amer Sports, which also owns the Wilson, Atomic and Suunto brands.

Mike Beeney – a former director of Lifetime Training who relocated to Australia with his family – has been made a director of Creative Fitness Marketing (CFM) Australia, looking after MYZONE in the Asia Pacific region.

Dave Wright, chief executive of CFM, says: “Mike is a very experienced fitness professional and has a sharp business mind.

“His knowledge of training and systems is a great asset to us as a company – particularly in the markets of Australia and New Zealand”.

Online lead generation service payasUgym.com has appointed Ed Luck as its new marketing director.

Tasked with driving customer acquisition, Luck will be responsible for the strategic direction of all marketing initiatives moving forward. He arrives as a highly experienced marketing professional with extensive knowledge of blue chip and SME businesses, spanning a range of high-growth consumer brands including Orange and Sportingbet.

Commenting on his appointment, Luck says: “What I find appealing about the payasUgym proposition is its straightforward and intuitive nature.

“There are exciting times ahead for the brand and I’m looking forward to helping with the next stage of the company’s evolution”.

PayasUgym.com currently has more than 1,200 gyms, leisure centres and health clubs on its system – each using the service for online lead generation. Last year the company secured a partnership with Tesco which could see the online company provide gym passes to up to 16 million Clubcard customers. The deal will allow Clubcard customers to use their Clubcard points to purchase gym passes for health clubs and leisure centres across the UK.

Steve Cram is to step down as from his role as chair of the English Institute of Sport (EIS) after more than 10 years. UK Sport will lead the process to recruit a new chair and expects to make an appointment in the autumn, when Cram will hand over to his replacement.

Cram, a former Olympic silver medallist, says: “After the superb achievements of London 2012, the high performance system is going through a period of evolution to help ensure that Great Britain can maintain its success. I think now is the right time to move on and pass the baton to someone else to guide the EIS in the next stage of its development.”

EIS provides sport science and sport medicine to more than 30 Olympic and Paralympic sports. It currently has more than 200 practitioners delivering an average of 4,000 hours a week of sport science and medical support to athletes.