MEET THE NEWEST
MEMBER OF THE
PFIFA
Board of
Directors
Mike Dobrynio was recently appointed
to the PFIFA Board of Directors to
fill the remainder of Steve Thomas’
term. Read on to get to know our new
board member a little better:
Name: Mike Dobrynio
Company: Black Duck Partners
Years as Franchisee: Just over
8 years – I became a franchisee
in November 2009.
Locations: 51
How did you get into the Planet
Fitness ® system and what drew you
to the brand?
What is your favorite thing about the
brand?
The Judgement Free Zone®, the
simplicity of the business model, the
amazing value proposition we provide
What do you look forward to accom-
plishing during your term?
Championing and being a team
player to execute on the huge technology/
innovation opportunity for this business,
continuous improvement on marketing
execution, emphasizing and executing on
better standardization across the brand and
making sure we increase the size of the pie
for franchisees and franchisor versus getting
bogged down on the respective size of each
stakeholder’s slice, long-term value creation.
In your opinion, what is the biggest
challenge currently facing PF
franchisees?
There are a lot of smart people that
are driving this fast-moving train down the
tracks, and there are a lot of ideas out there
to create better long-term value and higher
revenue/EBITDA. The lack of executing
on any of the great ideas or opportunities
is our biggest challenge as a unified team.
I believe that, in order to filter down the
many ideas and begin to better execute
on those few ideas with the greatest
impact, we need to better define our 5-6
core competencies of the brand and then
use that as the guidepost for which ideas
get beta tested and which ideas don’t get
beta tested. For example, I believe a core
competency to this business model is that
we are a “pull sales model,” so anything
“pushy,” like selling paid personal training,
would be an idea that violates the core
competency of our “pull sales model,” and
that then helps to narrow the ideas to beta
test.
In your opinion, what is the most
valuable benefit franchisees get for
their PFIFA dues?
We are getting a tremendous amount
of value as a lot of the incentives between
franchisee and franchisor have been much
better aligned due to PFIFA. In any large
franchise organization, there absolutely
needs to be a check and balance between
the powerful players on both sides to
ensure long-term value creation of the
greater brand against any short-term greed.
What charitable or community
organizations are you involved with?
The Boys & Girls Club, Rawhide
Boys Ranch and a children’s bereavement
program through Hospice.
What do you do for fun?
I play golf and enjoy vintage cars at
Road America and lake water sports. I also
collect vintage golf, baseball and football
cards.
Tell us a little about your family.
I met my wife, Julie, in Milwaukee.
Julie grew up on a lake in northern
Wisconsin, and we have a 2 ½-year-old
son, Roman.
What is your favorite exercise/
workout?
The Life Fitness elliptical.
G
It’s unbelievable that my business
partner, Tim Lennon, and I met and worked
together at 1 Liberty Lane in Hampton,
New Hampshire, in 2002, and now PFHQ
is at 4 Liberty Lane. Tim and I worked for
a merchant-banking group that owned and
operated multiple large companies, publicly
traded and privately held, across a wide
variety of industries. Tim and I stayed in
touch when we both went on to separate
opportunities away from New Hampshire in
2003. Tim contacted me in November 2008
with the opportunity to buy his operating
partner out, move out to Wisconsin from my
life in New York City and grow the business.
Tim drew me in by describing the value
aspect of the PF® model and the consistency
of the PF model. He called it the McDonald’s
of the fitness industry. The rest is history, and
it has bee n an amazing and fun ride.
to our
customers,
the disrup-
tive and
innovative
nature of the
business model within
the fitness industry, and of course
the fun and amazing group of franchisees
and team at PFHQ.
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