2025 Speakers

Jon Canarick

Jon Canarick is a Managing Director with 18 years of consumer private equity investment experience. Since joining North Castle in 2001, Jon has actively managed North Castle’s investments across a variety of Healthy, Active, and Sustainable Living sectors and across all job functions at North Castle. Having started his career at NCP as an Associate out of investment banking, Jon has played a crucial role in the development of North Castle and many of its portfolio companies. Jon currently sits on the Board of Directors of Echelon Fit, CR Fitness, Encore Vet Group, Kettlebell Kitchen, The Escape Game, Barry’s Bootcamp, Brooklyn Boulders, Curves, Jenny Craig, Palladio, and SLT. Previously, Jon served on the Board of Directors of Mineral Fusion, gloProfessional, Flatout, International Fitness, Enzymatic Therapy, Performance Bicycle, Avalon and DDF and was actively involved in the Firm’s investment in Grand Expeditions. Prior to joining North Castle, Jon worked in the Financial Sponsors Coverage and Leveraged Finance groups of Bear, Stearns & Co., where he executed leveraged buyout transactions and provided advisory services for financial sponsors. Jon earned a B.B.A. from the University of Michigan and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.

Robert Gabbay

Julia Eckhardt

Kimberley Nixon

Kimberley Nixon is Founder and Managing Partner at Open Venture Capital (OVC), an early stage venture capital fund. The fund invests in sport, health and wellness brands that have the ability to expand from product to platform via a unique product, marketing and/or community engagement approach. Open Venture Capital began as Open Venture Studio, and for several founders we continue to invest time and resources to build a clear value proposition and a path to scalability before investing capital. 

Kimberley is an Operator turned VC. Kim holds deep expertise in leading digital transformations and launching new products to market. Over the course of her 20-year career Kimberley has been entrusted by her clients, boards and executive leadership alike to deliver against key strategic objectives tied to growth optimization and operational excellence. Her work has spanned startup to billion dollar organizations, and across several international markets for companies including Under Armour, Manduka Yoga, Health House, Headspace and Tonal.

Michael Susi

Julie Cartwright

Julie Cartwright is the President of Pvolve, a science-led fitness method that pairs low-impact, functional movement and patented resistance equipment to sculpt the body without the wear and tear of high-impact exercise. Through its hybrid fitness model, Pvolve can be experienced globally on-demand through live and virtual classes, and in both brand-owned and growing franchise studio locations. 

Julie joined as President at Pvolve’s founding and has led the brand’s expanding footprint within the fitness space, growing the business from a small startup to a global female-led fitness authority, complete with live virtual classes, expansive on-demand programming, patented equipment, and a growing number of studio locations. 

As President, Julie is responsible for spearheading Pvolve’s overall vision and growth strategy while achieving financial objectives and setting investment priorities for the business.   

An avid Pvolve user herself, Cartwright can often be found at the Chicago studio location or taking classes online through the Live Virtual Studio. 

Tabitha Green

Tal Ziv

Mohammed Iqbal

Mohammed Iqbal strives to enhance people’s lives. He believes the key to leading a healthier life is having access to fitness knowledge and acting on it. He founded SweatWorks, the leading digital agency in fitness design and technology to create meaningful wellness journeys for everyone.

As founder and CEO, Mohammed has established SweatWorks as a wellness technology brand unlike any other. The agency pursues innovation to make fitness engaging, beautiful and accessible to all.

Mohammed also contributes to the wellness industry via speaking engagements at leading events and fitness conferences around the world. His personal commitment to his fitness journey is an inspiration to all those he comes in contact with. Daily, he immerses himself in strategic and creative thinking, fitness, and innovation. For ten years Mohammed has worked at exploring the intersection of fitness and technology, paving the way towards a more tangible wellness and healthcare future

SweatWorks collaborates with top-tier fitness brands to provide design, technology and marketplace expertise to produce first-to-market fitness and wellness products. It has made the Inc 5000 list as one of the fastest growing private companies five years in a row.

Newton Cheng

Greg Dowd

Steve Cherry

Amanda Al-Masri

Amanda Al-Masri is the vice president of wellness at Hilton. In this role, she serves as a wellness strategist across Hilton’s global portfolio of 18 world-class brands, enhancing Hilton’s current offerings and programs while developing innovative new, scalable solutions to meet rapidly evolving consumer expectations.

A seasoned wellness leader, Amanda brings 20 years of experience to Hilton. Prior to joining Hilton, she assisted with the launch of Equinox Hotels and drove the overall strategy and execution of more than 90 Club Spas. She also served as Global Director of Spa Development & Operations for Starwood Hotels & Resorts, responsible for the company’s spa brands, partners and a global portfolio of more than 450 spas. She offers a deep understanding of how travel and access to wellness experiences have always served as critical points of intersection for consumers.

Amanda graduated with a master’s in hospitality management from Cornell University, as well as from Connecticut College with a degree in French.

Alex Alimanestianu

Anthony Radek

Massy Arias

Beth Potter

Jeff Yasuda

Jeff is a long-time entrepreneur that continues to find new ways to combine his passion for building businesses with his love of music.

Prior to Feed.fm, Yasuda launched Blip.fm, which grew to over 1 million registered DJs who reached over 30 million people on Twitter.

Before becoming an entrepreneur, Jeff was the Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of Silicon Valley VC firm Redwood Ventures, where he held board directorships and managed investments in their technology portfolio. Prior to joining Redwood, he worked in Investment Banking at Lehman Brothers, concentrating on technology financings within Equity Capital Markets.