26 | Washington Athletic Club Magazine | SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

By Michelle Feder | Photos by John Bang

New program optimizes executive wellness

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015 | Washington Athletic Club Magazine | 27

The hard-charging personalities that got senior executives where they are today can also damage their health.”

—Tamela Thomas Wellness Manager & REV Program Director

In the business world, the C-suite and executive team function as a

company’s nucleus. They drive an organization’s mission, vision and

values and represent a concentration of brainpower and decision-

making. In essence, they are the focal point of a company’s future. But we’re

also talking about people here. People with heavy demands and limited

time. People who are as prone to the same physical challenges as everyone

else. When an unforeseen illness or injury—or worse—befalls top talent,

a company suffers.

“Executives have very busy lives,” WAC Wellness Manager Tamela Thomas says. “The hard-charging personalities that got senior executives where they are today can also damage their health.”

Tamela takes this subject seriously. As the leader of wellness programs at the Washington Athletic Club, she works with executives, entrepreneurs, and other high-level business pro- fessionals every day. She sees what ails them, and she knows the impact their health has on their companies.

With a sense of urgency, the WAC recently launched REV, a new wellness program tailored to today’s executives and the companies that want to invest in their high-level personnel assets.

“What we are doing is unique,” says Tamela, who also serves as REV Program Director. “Our goal for the program is to maximize the health and well-being of senior executives. Losing a valued senior leader to a sudden and preventable health condition can have a devastating impact on a company’s bottom line, institutional knowledge, and employee retention.”

The exact economic burden of such a loss is difficult to assess. No single metric pins it down. But clearly the stakes are great. “No one wants to consider how their company would look tomorrow if they suddenly lost a top executive,” WAC Senior Vice President Athletics, Special Projects & Community Partners Wayne Milner

“

28 | Washington Athletic Club Magazine | SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

says. “The idea behind REV is to help organizations avoid that question.”

Authors David F. Larcker and Brian Tayan agree. The Stanford University duo has studied executive loss extensively and wrote “Sudden Death of a CEO: Are Companies Prepared When Lightning Strikes?” They found that approximately seven CEOs of publicly traded companies die each year. “There is no greater test of the viability of a company’s succession plan than the sudden death of its CEO,” they write.

The most common causes of CEO death are cancer, heart attack, and stroke. But REV is not just about reducing the risk of a catastrophic event. REV offers programs to improve health and overall fitness.

Work-life balance Whether you can quantify it precisely or not, the true cost of unfit executives is steep. In response, REV provides a customized game plan to meet company leaders’ individual needs and time constraints.

Although it might be difficult to eliminate 50-plus-hour workweeks, any executive can—and, indeed, must—invest in their personal wellness. Moreover, as millennials continue to climb the corporate ladder, companies that want

to retain them must meet their demand for strong work-life balance.

Enter REV. Rather than a succession plan, the program offers a practical, preemptive action plan that provides time-starved executives something they need desperately—quality of life. It also delivers a customizable kick-start commitment to multidimensional wellness. Whether you’re a gym newbie or a corporate warrior in need of better habits, the program offers a full team of wellness experts and top-notch services under one roof, with confidentiality, efficiency and impact.

“This is exactly our strong suit,” Tamela says. “REV represents a focused combination of everything we already do so well at the WAC—provide premium services with integrity and sensitivity.”

Companies that engage with REV are placing a premium on their leadership team while also giving those leaders an all-access pass to the region’s best city athletic club. What was one of the first companies to make the commitment? Well … us, of course!

To help launch REV and ensure excellence across the board, the WAC executive team signed up for a REV program that included eight weeks of customized training and nutritional consultation. Here’s what happened.

Our executive team

road-tested the REV

program. Here are some

of the combined results.

Time to energize WAC Vice President Human Resources Wendall Smith came to REV with more than a touch of reluctance. She has worked at the Club since 2008 but rarely exercised. “I had to tell myself, ‘It’s only eight weeks,’” she says. “It took a programmed commitment to get me to do it.”

Given access to a nutritionist, wellness expert, personal trainer, and the camaraderie of colleagues, Wendall experienced many benefits. An initial fitness assessment gave her a benchmark for success. Weight loss wasn’t a goal, but through REV’s nutritional insights and fitness gains Wendall replaced fat with seven pounds of muscle.

“Most busy executives are over-stressed and under-rested,” WAC Nutritionist Shana Hopkins says. “These two things alone can lead to more eating, snacking, and cravings—and ultimately weight gain.”

Shana caters her recommendations to each client’s specific needs but says

WAC Nutritionist Shana Hopkins helps clients eat healthy at home and on the go.

“ It made great sense for the WAC to

be the first participant in the REV

program,” WAC President & CEO

Chuck Nelson says. “We obviously

believe in the benefits of what

is offered at the WAC Wellness

Center and in the business case for

increasing the health and wellness

of our team members. Our REV

results have been measurable—

sustainable weight loss, better

eating habits, decreased body fat,

and biometric improvement.”

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015 | Washington Athletic Club Magazine | 29

Wall sit: +5:18 minutes

Chest press: +40 pounds

Hand grip: +11 pounds

Sit and reach: +3.75 inches of flexibility

1-mile walk: -3:12 minutes

Push-ups: +25 push-ups

Blood pressure (systolic): -5 points

Blood pressure (diastolic): -41 points

Sit-ups: +9

Leg press: +40 pounds

Leg curl: +40 pounds

Biceps curl: 2.5 times the reps

Body fat: -1.1%

that generally it’s a good idea to get an additional 30 minutes of sleep nightly and to balance blood sugar and energy levels by eating protein throughout the day. “It will pay off immensely,” she says.

Wendall’s success was more than numbers on a scale. Her sleep became more nourishing—“All through the night,” she says—and she found herself with increased energy all day. To fit the program into her busy schedule, Wendall set her REV training sessions for her lunch hour. To find extra motivation, she and Vice President Membership & Marketing Michelle Pinson worked out together with their coach, Kinya Jones.“High-powered professionals and execu-tives are great to work with,” Kinya says. “They are driven, they work hard, and they want to be as efficient as possible with their time. The biggest challenge I see for a lot of them is committing to take the time out for themselves—getting out of their head and into their bodies.” Michelle relates intimately. For her, mak-ing the time to get to the gym was the

biggest challenge but proved well worth the effort. “It can be so difficult to tear yourself away from everything happening with your business or team simultaneous-ly,” she says. “With REV, you do it, and you end up fresher, more energized, and

with much better ideas and inspiration. You simply cannot stay on the cutting edge if you don’t make investment in your health and well-being part of the process.”

Wendall agrees. As a REV participant and human resources professional, she

30 | Washington Athletic Club Magazine | SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015WHERE WELLNESS DRIVES BUSINESS

To learn more about REV, visit

wac.net/wellness-center/rev or

contact the REV Program Director

at 206.464.4637.

speaks with experience about the value of REV. “The program is designed to take care of an executive group that has a great deal of responsibility, stress, and institutional knowledge,” she says. “It’s about the whole person, not just the brain sitting at a desk—their entire mind and body. You want to make sure you’re investing in these people and keeping them, and your organization, in tip-top shape.” Reach higher Bill Cohen, WAC Vice President Operations, has been active throughout his life, but he had never worked one-on-one with a personal coach. He was curious about how professional attention could impact his routine.

“I thought I knew a lot about proper exercise and diet,” he says. “I learned I didn’t know as much as I thought I did.”

Bill has played in an adult baseball league for years. The fitness level he reached practicing with the team and working out on his own seemed great—until he began REV.

“I learned a lot about reaching higher levels of exercise and also improving my diet,” he says. “Having the REV team behind you is effective, enjoyable, and has resulted in steady progress.”

His REV program coach, Dan Dill, worked with Bill, Wayne Milner and CFO Paul Lowber. “They were all very different in regards to their fitness needs,” Dan says. “Executives are generally intense in focus and require fitness programs that are short in duration, challenging, and results-driven. The average person wants results, but an executive usually demands results.”

REV offers professional support and

can function as a jump-start. Optimally, it will spark a commitment to lifelong better living. It also seeks to benefit both mind and body—no matter your age or fitness level.

“The progress, the variety, the intensity, and the efficiency all made the experience worthwhile,” says Paul, who has continued his commitment to work out with Dan. Paul hopes his

improved fitness helps when he returns to WAC basketball league play this month. “We’re working on strength and balance and flexibility,” he says. “That should pay dividends on the court and hopefully extend my playing days.”

Paul isn’t the only WAC executive who has opted for a follow-up REV session. In fact, they all have. “Habits are hard to break and hard to establish,” Dan says. “Eight weeks is a great place to start.” Revving up—without breaking down Über-ambitious executives pursue high-performance lives. In acknowledgement of this, an important component of the REV program is balance. In recent years, Tamela says, there’s been a critical shift in corporate culture. “No longer is it a badge of honor to work nonstop, day and night, and not take care of yourself,” she says.

For companies that do engage with REV, the wellness benefits achieved open doors to a new mindset. Not only that, but their executives know they are valued and that their companies care about them—not just their bottom-line production.

“We know that in showing a commit-ment to the health of our people we engender an even greater sense of loyalty and commitment to the organization,” WAC President & CEO Chuck Nelson says. “REV leads to healthier, happy, and committed team members.”

Wendall takes another perspective. “The executive group of any organization is an essential piece of equipment,” she says. “You need to take care of it, not just hope for the best.” —Michelle Feder is a Seattle-area freelance writer.