Heath and wellness brand franchisor Xponential Fitness has hired Gavin O’Connor as chief legal counsel and administrative officer, replacing CLO Andrew Hagopian who left the company this week.
O’Connor joins from hair waxing business European Wax Center where he was general counsel and chief administrative officer. At Xponential Fitness he will oversee all legal and administrative matters related to the business.
Irvine, California-based Xponential Fitness owns a number of health and wellness franchises, including Club Pilates, YogaSix, PureBarre and Stretch Lab.
Mike Nuzzo, CEO of Xponential Fitness, said: “With extensive experience in franchising and a strong background advising publicly-traded companies, Gavin brings deep legal, regulatory and overall business leadership expertise that will support our on-going growth and governance framework.”
O’Connor spent just short of six years as European Wax Center’s legal chief, having joined from American Eagle Outfitters, where he spent almost two years as deputy GC. He also spent almost eight years in-house at US health and nutrition business GNC across a number of legal roles, initially joining as GC for corporate affairs and international, before becoming chief compliance officer and later deputy GC.
Prior to his in-house career, O’Connor spent four years as a partner at McGuireWoods, six years as a partner at Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti and two years as a corporate associate at legacy firm Sweeney Metz Fox McGrann & Schermer, having started his career at Dickie McCamey & Chilcote.
He said: “This is an exciting time for the company, and I look forward to leveraging my background in franchising and corporate governance to help strengthen our compliance framework, and support the business as it enters its next phase of growth.”
Hagopian, meanwhile, departs Xponential Fitness after almost three years. He was previously GC at Newlight Technologies, CLO at BetMGM and chief corporate counsel at MGM Resorts International.
Nuzzo added: “I would also like to thank Andrew for his significant contributions to the company and wish him continued success in his future endeavours.”
In other recent fitness-related moves, last month gym chain Planet Fitness hired Sarah Powell from GoTo Foods to head up its legal team. While back in September US gym franchise Crunch Fitness hired its first GC – Chris Flowers – who joined from Restore Hyper Wellness, where he was deputy GC.
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