Areas of responsibility: Corporate vision, direction, and culture, strategic planning and partnerships, innovation management, training methodology, financial oversight, brand positioning, investor relations
Brian earned a Bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology from Northern Illinois University in 1997. He attended NIU on a baseball scholarship and as team captain, his senior year; he led the Huskies to their first conference championship in decades. Brian was named an NSCA All-American athlete the same year.
Brian has earned numerous industry certifications including NSCA-Certified Personal trainer, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, and ACSM Fitness Instructor. He was also the youngest person ever designated as a SuperSlow Exercise Master Instructor and administered instructor certifications to candidates from around the country. Brian also completed the MedX program and certification for the musculoskeletal testing and rehabilitation of the lumbar spine, cervical spine, and knee.
Brian co-founded The Exercise Coach with his wife Gerianne in 2000. They operated two studios together until 2009 when they established an exclusive sales distribution partnership with Exerbotics. At the time Exerbotics was an R and D company with a near market ready line of robotic strength training machines. Upon the successful negotiation of this arrangement, Brian began advising Exerbotics and working on the satisfaction of legal requirements for the operation and sale of The Exercise Coach as a franchised business opportunity.
After launching in 2011, The Exercise Coach appeared on CBS, NBC, FOX, HLN, and more. It has also been named multiple times to the Entrepreneur 500 as one of top franchise concepts in America. Under Brian’s leadership, The Exercise Coach also earned a franchisee satisfaction award from Franchise Business Review. The Exercise Coach now operates 40 plus locations throughout the United States. In 2016, The Exercise Coach sold the Master license rights for Japan, and the first Japanese Exercise Coach studio opened the summer of 2017.
In 2015 Brian assembled a group of investors to acquire Exerbotics. In addition to his role leading The Exercise Coach, Brian has since served as the CEO and chief innovator of Exerbotics. Brian owns patented and patent-pending inventions that have been used to enhance Exerbotics strength technology radically and turn it into the world’s most sophisticated connected strength training platform.
Brian’s defining expertise is in the arena of muscular biomechanics. Brian has a deep understanding of how muscle work and how to use 21st-century technologies including sensors, robotics, and AI to optimize resistance training. Brian is a pioneer and foremost leader in connected strength training and its implications for personal and population health.
Brian and his wife Gerianne have been blessed with three children and own an energetic fox-red Labrador name, Amber.
Gerianne co-founded The Exercise Coach in 2000 with her husband, Brian. Her partnership in the operation of multiple Exercise Coach studios led to the vision and success that laid the groundwork for The Exercise Coach Franchise System. In 2010, after a successful exit from her wealth management practice, Gerianne devoted her efforts to help establish The Exercise Coach Franchise. In addition to strategic decision making, she was instrumental in managing the financial and administrative needs of the company.
Gerianne is passionate about healthy eating, holistic wellness, and clean living. She is a Certified Health Coach and well studied in the areas of health and nutrition.
To meet the growing demand for nutrition education among Exercise Coach clients, Gerianne published The Exercise Coach Nutrition Playbook in 2016. This guidebook has empowered Certified Exercise Coaches and Franchisees to help customers collectively lose thousands of pounds of body fat and transform their health.
Gerianne has three children and a passion for helping children in need. She puts her gifting into practice by regularly assembling and leading international missions teams to Guatemala.
Brad Bundy is the Chief Operating Officer for The Exercise Coach. He formulates growth strategies, oversees daily operations, and implements policies, all of which promote The Exercise Coach’s culture and vision. Additionally, Brad works closely with the CEO to create strategic partnerships, innovative client experiences, and industry-leading studio management practices.
Upon graduating from the Honors College of Baylor University, Brad dove headfirst into entrepreneurship. After working 14 years in one industry, where he led his company to tenfold revenue growth, Brad chose to partner with the executive team of The Exercise Coach. An instinctive leader who has a knack for simplifying complex problems, Brad has personally developed many of the tools that are used throughout our system today.
Married to his high school sweetheart since 2000, Brad has three children. A native Texan, he enjoys spending time with his family on their acreage outside of Houston.
Kevin has a sincere passion for facilitating lifestyle change and helping those in need attain better health through safe, effective exercise and natural nutrition. His desire to improve his ability to do so and prepare him for a career in the fitness industry led him to advance his education in the field of human biology and exercise science.
Kevin earned a B.S. in human biology from the University of Wisconsin Green Bay where he selected courses emphasizing exercise physiology, nutrition, and human development. After that, driven by an interest in learning more about the human body’s response to the stress of exercise, strength training, in particular, he pursued graduate studies at Northern Michigan University. There he completed an M.S. in exercise science while maintaining a teaching graduate assistantship.
In addition to his formal education, Kevin is an ACSM Certified Exercise Physiologist, a Level 1 USAT Certified Triathlon Coach, and a Certified Health Coach through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Kevin’s education, as well as his experience operating his training studio since 2003, has prepared him well to support The Exercise Coach franchisees and their coaches with all their needs.
Kevin enjoys spending time with his wife Celia and children (Terese, Patrick, Marta, and Dominic), and participating in most outdoor activities. He believes that his focus on faith, family, and an active lifestyle improves his quality-of-life and in turn helps him to best serve others.
In 1997 T.J. completed his sophomore basketball season at Northern Illinois University and was searching for a solution to safely and efficiently gain muscle. It was then that Brian Cygan introduced him to the philosophy and methodology that now shapes The Exercise Coach. T.J. went on to become the leading scorer in NIU basketball history. In 1998 He was named Academic All-American of the year for the entire nation. In 2007, After a six-year professional basketball career in Europe, T.J. returned to the U.S. to enter the fitness industry under with Brian as a mentor. He went on go to open multiple locations in the Chicago suburbs. In 2013 T.J. joined The Exercise Coach corporate team and provided franchisee training and support.
John Suazo was commissioned in the United States Navy upon his graduation from the United States Naval Academy in 1991 with a BS in Oceanography and Physics. He received his Master’s degree at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, in March 2006.
Following graduation from flight school at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, and his designation as a Naval Flight Officer in 1993, John completed his initial training in the F-14 with the “Gunfighters” of Fighter Squadron 124 at Naval Air Station Miramar, CA.
A graduate of the United States Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN), John was selected to command the “Diablos” of Strike Fighter Weapons School – Atlantic. The “Diablos” provided Navy & Marine Corps FA-18 Hornet and Super Hornet squadrons post-graduate level flight training for Strike Fighter airborne tactics.
During his 24-year career, he accrued over 3000 total flight hours while serving in five different squadrons – mostly in the F-14 Tomcat and the FA-18 Super Hornet. He has logged over 200 combat flight hours, and over 530 carrier arrested landings and earned three Strike/Flight Air Medals, Air Medal (Bronze Star) with a Combat “V,” and Navy Commendation Medal with Combat “V” for his combat actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
John retired from active Naval service in 2015, selected to the rank of Captain (O-6).
He resides in Colorado Springs, CO with his lovely wife Nikki and their son Victor. John and Nikki opened an Exercise Coach® studio in 2015. In 2018, John and Nikki won Franchisee of the year and in 2019 were awarded with one of the first “Founder’s Awards” for achieving a record-breaking client roster. John joined the corporate team as a Franchise Support Manager in 2019. John and his family enjoy spending time at their ranch in Colorado and traveling in their RV.
Exercise Coach Studio Owners
Each Exercise Coach studio is locally owned and operated by independent business owners who are passionate about changing the lives of individuals in their communities. These business owners and local team leaders are uniquely authorized and empowered to deliver proven personal training solutions powered by cutting-edge technology.