What does it take to walk into one of the most prominent leadership roles in the global fitness industry with fresh eyes and a background in an entirely different sector? Liz Clark did exactly that — transitioning from years of government relations and advocacy work at the National Confectioners Association to become the first female CEO in IHRSA's four-decade history.
Matthew Januszek and Emma Barry sat down with Clark at the Connected Health & Fitness Summit to explore what she is building, why advocacy matters more than ever for the fitness world, and how she plans to evolve IHRSA into a more powerful voice on Capitol Hill and beyond.
About Liz Clark
Liz Clark stepped into the CEO role at IHRSA — the global trade association for the health and fitness industry — as a genuine outsider, having spent her career since 2011 as the leading voice for the confectionery industry in Washington through the National Confectioners Association. That background gave her something rare: a deep, practitioner-level understanding of how advocacy actually works inside the American legislative system.
Her appointment marked a historic first in IHRSA's 40-year history, and she arrived with a clear sense of purpose. Clark's early agenda centered on elevating fitness as a matter of public health policy, pushing for greater awareness of the power of movement at the federal level, and repositioning IHRSA as a more proactive advocate for the industry's interests in Washington.
The conversation with Matthew and Emma Barry, recorded at the Connected Health & Fitness Summit, covered Clark's first 100 days on the job — her observations, her priorities, and the structural shifts she sees as necessary for IHRSA to serve its members more effectively in a rapidly changing landscape.
What Liz Clark and Matthew Januszek Talked About
- Liz Clark is the first female CEO in IHRSA's 40-year history, a milestone that signals a meaningful shift in how the fitness industry is choosing to represent itself at the highest levels of leadership.
- Her background is not in fitness but in Washington-style advocacy — she served as the industry voice for the National Confectioners Association since 2011, which gives her a practical edge in navigating Capitol Hill politics.
- Clark's central mission is to raise the profile of fitness as a public health issue, making the case to lawmakers that movement is medicine and that the industry deserves serious policy attention.
- The Connected Health & Fitness Summit served as an early proving ground for Clark, signaling her intent to be present in the conversations shaping the industry's future from the very start of her tenure.
- Her first 100 days framing reveals a leader who is listening and mapping before making large structural moves — a deliberate approach to understanding IHRSA's membership and stakeholder landscape.
- Advocacy at the federal level remains an underdeveloped lever for the fitness industry, and Clark sees closing that gap as one of the most important contributions she can make as CEO.
- The cross-industry perspective Clark brings — from confectionery to fitness — demonstrates that the skills of coalition-building, legislative relationship management, and public messaging transfer powerfully across sectors.
Why This Conversation Matters
Matthew Januszek has spent his career building fitness communities and businesses that change lives — and the conversation with Liz Clark sits squarely at the intersection of that mission and the policy environment that either enables or constrains it. When the fitness industry has a stronger voice in Washington, every operator, studio owner, and entrepreneur benefits. That is the upstream work Clark is doing, and it is directly relevant to the community Matthew engages through Escape Fitness USA and the LIFTS Podcast.
For the leaders and operators who follow Matthew's work, Clark's story is also a reminder that the most impactful contributors to an industry often come from unexpected places. Her willingness to cross sectors, learn fast, and apply a proven advocacy playbook to a new arena is exactly the kind of bold, forward-thinking leadership Matthew spotlights — the kind that expands what the fitness world believes is possible.
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About Matthew Januszek
Matthew Januszek is the co-founder of Escape Fitness, the functional-training equipment brand he built from a UK startup into a global name supplying many of the world’s leading gyms, studios, and hotel fitness spaces. Following the separation of the UK and US businesses, Matthew’s focus today is Escape Fitness USA and the next chapter of the brand in North America. He hosted more than 300 episodes of the Escape Your Limits podcast and now co-hosts the LIFTS Podcast with SweatWorks founder Mohammed Iqbal, covering the business, science, and technology shaping the fitness industry. Explore more interviews and episodes on MatthewJanuszek.com.
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