Gold’s Gym Has New Leadership: Danny Waggoner, Brian Warne To Share CEO Role
Waggoner has been with the gym chain for 22 years while Warne has been at Gold’s Gym since 2018
Gold’s Gym won’t have one CEO but two, with the gym chain naming a pair of company veterans, Danny Waggoner and Brian Warne, as its new co-leaders.
RSG Group USA, the owner of Gold’s Gym, announced Waggoner and Warne as its new co-CEOs earlier this month. The pair will replace Sebastian Schoepe, who had been serving as CEO of Gold’s Gym and RSG Group USA since September 2020.
Prior to their appointments, Waggoner and Warne were both with Gold’s Gym in executive level-positions. Waggoner has been with the company for 22 years, most recently serving as senior vice president of operations. Warne has been with Gold’s Gym since 2018, most recently serving as CFO.
Waggoner and Warne will keep their former positions in addition to their CEO tasks, a spokesperson for Gold’s Gym told Athletech News.
“We believe that we have a talented and dedicated team to grow the business”, Waggoner said in a statement about his new role.
“Our goal is to preserve the heritage of Gold’s by continuing to create a great experience for team members and all gym members,” added Warne.
RSG Group bought Gold’s Gym out of bankruptcy in 2020 for an estimated $100 million. The company was founded by Rainer Schaller in Germany in 1997 and now owns a spate of brands in fitness and related industries, including McFit, the largest fitness center chain in Germany.
Schaller and his family were tragically killed in a plane crash in October 2022. Schaller’s brother, Gerd Schaller, inherited RSG Group following the crash and named Dr. Jobst Müller-Trimbusch and Hagen Wingertszahn as CEOs of the company.