It’s Official: Dustin Grosz Named Chief Executive Officer of Precor
Peloton promised Precor would get the attention it deserves & its new CEO is committed to its mission
Precor, a division of connected fitness giant Peloton, has officially named Dustin Grosz as Chief Executive Officer. Grosz, who served as Interim Chief Executive Officer since December 2022, comes to Precor with over 30 years of experience in the fitness industry.
The new CEO will report to Dion Camp Sanders, Chief Emerging Business Officer of Peloton.
Sanders referred to the new appointment as an important milestone for the next chapter of Precor.
“He has a proven track record leading companies through transformational growth, and a deep knowledge of the fitness and wellness industry. As interim CEO, Dustin has already had a positive impact on the organization bringing to bear his strong experience in global supply chain and distribution, manufacturing, and sourcing strategies,” said Sanders.
Grosz’s immediate focus, Sanders said, will be to return Precor to a position where it generates positive free cash flow.
The new Precor CEO penned a message of promise for the year, writing that the business has been held to a “very high standard” but noted that Precor hasn’t been living up to it.
“That’s about to change. In 2023 we are back to being Precor, a stand-alone subsidiary of Peloton, committed to the satisfaction of our customers and the impression our equipment makes on your exercisers,” he wrote.
Before joining Precor, Dustin Grosz served as president and COO of Core Health & Fitness, where he led a restructuring. He has also served as president and COO of Star Trac and CEO of StairMaster, as well as holding several positions at Nautilus Inc.
In addition to the appointment of a new CEO for Precor, Frank O’Rourke has been named Senior Vice President of Global Sales. O’Rourke will report directly to Grosz and oversee Precor’s global sales and go-to-market strategy.
Earlier this month, Precor was discussed on Peloton’s earnings call, after the connected fitness company had remained mum on the commercial business.
Last summer, when asked about the status of Precor, CFO Liz Coddington said that Peloton was continuing to assess its strategy and wasn’t a focus.
“With all the other things that we’re working on, all of our supply chain work, the FAAS work that we’ve been doing, Precor hasn’t — the focus on Precor hasn’t been our highest priority area. And we don’t have much else to share at this point,” Coddington said on the August 2022 earnings call.
During that same discussion, Barry McCarthy, Peloton CEO, shared that the acquisition of Precor had been beneficial in terms of its commercial business, stating that it has been growing roughly 35% year over year in terms of revenue. He said he’d like to “lean into that” and accelerate its growth, alluding to having more to say about Precor in the future.
And so Peloton has remained quiet on the topic of Precor – until its most recent earnings report.
“You know, the worst kept secret on the planet is that we’ve been exploring the sale of Precor,” McCarthy joked. McCarthy confirmed that Peloton was on the verge of selling Precor, but the deal fell through after the buyer dramatically reduced the price they were willing to pay.
“I mean, at some point, it crossed as a stupid line to the point where you’re just not willing to dance anymore. And that happened for us,” McCarthy said, describing how the potential sale went south.
He also admits that for all the time Peloton owned Precor, the connected fitness brand had done nothing to invest in the performance of the business – much to its own detriment. Looking ahead, McCarthy announced that Peloton planned to “reverse course.”
“I think we understand how to add some incremental value without great expense and have a disproportionate increase in the value of the business. And the overarching strategy would be run Precor for the benefit of Precor and to not dilute those efforts for the benefit of our own operating business. Run it as a freestanding subsidiary. And so, that’s the path we’re on,” McCarthy said earlier this month.
