Coach Welly Adds Former IBM Exec, Eyes North American Market

Mar 1, 2024

Coach Welly Adds Former IBM Exec, Eyes North American Market

As it aims to expand into North America, Australia-based health tech company Coach Welly now has as good a guide as anyone.

The personalised member engagement platform appointed John Blackburn as its North American lead. Blackburn formerly served as vice president and general manager of retail at IBM as well as executive vice president at DMI, and now finds himself tasked with leading enterprise growth initiatives for Coach Welly within the United States and beyond.

“We are delighted to welcome John Blackburn to Coach Welly as our North American lead,” said Owen Bowling, CEO of Coach Welly. “His extensive experience and proven track record in driving enterprise growth make him an invaluable addition to our team. John’s strategic vision and deep understanding of corporate and insurance markets will be instrumental in our success launching into these markets in North America.”

Blackburn also spent time working for EY, PWC, SVP Retail and EVP before coming aboard at Coach Welly. He helped grow each organisation’s commercial businesses and completed strategic investments/buy-outs from private equities.

“As the importance of health and wellness have grown in awareness, technology has advanced to be more engaging and personalised, and overall healthcare costs have risen,” said Blackburn. “I see Coach Welly as perfectly positioned to solve for these factors and drive real and meaningful health outcomes and behavior change for people.”

Blackburn won’t be alone as he takes these new steps into a leadership role, as Coach Welly also recently appointed Troy Morgan to serve as its Asia-Pacific (APAC) lead.

Like Blackburn, Morgan brings an excess of experience, being a 25-year veteran of the health and wellness industry. He’s owned and operated fitness and health facilities, corporate well-being platforms and program designs.

With artificial intelligence (AI) as its backbone, Coach Welly drives member engagement by offering users a scalable and personalised health and fitness journey. Supported by biometrics and gamification elements all within a cloud-based framework, the platform has established itself as a trustworthy tool for operators since launching in 2019.

Coach Welly recently agreed to a partnership with World Gym Australia to showcase its engagement capabilities in the health and fitness sector. Elements such as a scanned readiness score based on heart rate to provide curated workouts, a point-based accountability program and other gamification features have all become available at World Gym facilities this year.  

After securing pre-seed funding which valued the company at $4.25 million, Coach Welly also teased that it had a “rapidly growing list of contracted customers,” illustrating the likelihood of similar partnerships down the line, potentially in North America with Blackburn now aboard.

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Tour the Coach Welly App to see how it fits the needs of you and your members.

iPhone 15 mockup of coach welly app

Book a product demo today

Tour the Coach Welly App to see how it fits the needs of you and your members.

iPhone 15 mockup of coach welly app

Book a product demo today

Tour the Coach Welly App to see how it fits the needs of you and your members.