Bigwave nedia is continuing its eight-year period of growth with the appointment of David Johns as Business Development Manager.
Formerly working as a Partnership Development Manager with sport and exercise charity Active Nation, Johns, 54, has enjoyed a long career in sports and exercise management, across public, private and not-for-profit organisations, including DC Leisure (now Places for People Leisure), SLM Everyone Active and Oldham Community Leisure.
The new role with Bigwave media, which has more than 100 leisure industry clients and serves over 430 leisure facilities across the UK, will see him working directly with clients to review, monitor and strategically support the commercial activity in key areas, such as sales, process, culture, best practice and marketing initiatives, ensuring this support is centred on creating value for clients by providing business and marketing performance improvement.
Tom Gozna, Operations Director at Bigwave media, which now has 42 members of staff, said: “We are aiding business growth and increased participation in sport and activity across our client base throughout the UK, which has lead to a demand for more staff to deliver the hands on marketing support we provide.
“David will be working with clients to support business growth in key income areas – looking at bespoke business and marketing services for new potential clients and helping existing clients to drive their income and results.”
“As a previous client of Bigwave media, I’ve experienced the breadth and depth of their insight and impact, and directly benefited from their services: including demographics, marketing support, creative design and business solutions,” said Johns. “Having followed the company’s expansion in recent years, I am proud to now be a part of the team, committed to help build on its renown as a respected and trusted supplier of services and solutions to the leisure industry.”
One of the architects of Active Nation’s mission and brand when it was set up in 2009, Johns supported contracts across the charity’s portfolio of District, Borough and City Councils, as well as Clinical Commissioning Groups. He mobilised new contracts, managed capital investment projects and worked with sports National Governing Bodies and County Sports Partnerships, including hosting pre-Olympic and Commonwealth Games training camps for the Australian and Canadian badminton teams.
Johns has previously worked with Bigwave media’s Sales Director, Nick Masson, at DC Leisure in 2005, where they were both Business Development Managers, and subsequently when mentoring SLM Everyone Active’s team at St. Paul’s Community Sports Academy to become the first leisure centre to achieve Quest Sports Development in 2008.