Melvyn started his fitness industry career as a fitness instructor at the Hogarth Health Club in 1986, followed by management roles at LivingWell and Virgin Fitness. After this he moved to academia but retained links with the fitness industry.

In 2001, he was commissioned by the Fitness Industry Association (now UK Active) to establish a standard measure of membership retention and a benchmark figure for the industry. The results of the research were published in a series of six reports entitled Winning the Retention Battle.

Melvyn’s research into retention and attrition has led to the development of appropriate measures of retention, attrition and longevity that provide data for operators that can directly inform business decisions. The research has been presented at numerous conferences in the UK and abroad including the IHRSA annual conference in the US and Europe. Multiple club operators and industry bodies have benefitted from Melvyn’s expertise in identifying the determinants of retention. In 2006, Melvyn partnered with Fitronics to provide retention insights to customers and to continue industry research.

In 2013, in partnership with The Retention People (TRP), Melvyn undertook the TRP 10,000™ study, the biggest and most comprehensive survey of member behaviour and retention ever carried out in the health and fitness industry. Results of the research have been released in a series of features in Health Club Management and via numerous industry conferences. Melvyn has produced retention reports for multiple clubs all over the world.

In parallel, Melvyn has over 30 years’ experience training leisure industry staff in Motivational Interviewing with the intention of improving staff-member interactions and therefore membership retention.

David Connell is CEO of Hertfordshire Sports Village, a leading single-site leisure facility with an average Net Promoter Score of 79. Inspired by his relentless pursuit of excellence and continuous improvement, David has led the team at the Sports Village on a good to great journey over the past 10 years, achieving incredible results in this time. 

David has an unfaltering belief that by focussing on two key priorities – staff engagement and customer satisfaction (which he knows are inextricably linked) you will always create highly successful businesses that can grow, develop and respond to any challenges they face. 

Highlights include taking a laser-focussed approach to increasing employee engagement, with the Sports Village being rated outstanding in this area and being recognised as one of the best companies to work for in the UK and growing NPS from an average of 26 in 2016 to an impressive 79 in 2025 (up from 69 in 2024). These improvements have been driven by David ensuring staff focus relentlessly on small but powerful interactions, that leave a lasting impression on users and lead to huge improvements in income, retention and length of stay.  

None of this success would be achieved without his passion for questioning the norm, being an early adopter of new technology, listening to the data and using this to really understand what is going on in his business to improve staff engagement, customer satisfaction and retention.