Outgoing One NZ boss Jason Paris to lead Les Mills International

It was an “enormous privilege” to help lead Les Mills International’s next phase of growth, Paris said.

He’d always admired companies like Les Mills International that had a global impact, incoming chief executive Jason Paris said. Photo / Andrew Cornaga / www.photosport.nz

“What Phillip, Jackie and the Mills family have built over many decades is one of New Zealand’s great business success stories.”

The married father of three had always admired New Zealand brands that had global impact.

“Les Mills International has done exactly that. It has an outstanding team, an iconic brand and an incredible opportunity ahead.”

Paris, who is also a longtime Les Mills member, said every great business he’d worked in was obsessed with the needs of the customer, and Les Mills was a great example of this, with a global network of instructors, club partners and participants.

“I can’t wait to start learning from these amazing people and supporting their success as we accelerate our mission to create a fitter planet.”

Phillip Mills will take on the founder/director role when Jason Paris takes over as chief executive at Les Mills International in October.

Paris’ appointment was part of a planned leadership succession after Phillip Mills’ three-year commitment to lead the business as managing director through an important period of strategic and organisational development, including overcoming the disruption the Covid-19 pandemic caused across the global gym industry, the company said.

The company had stabilised and strengthened its operations, established a clear strategy, delivered strong financial performance and built an effective leadership team, it said.

“With this three-year period now complete, Phillip will support Jason through the transition and continue to serve as founder/director, with operational leadership and decision-making passing to the incoming CEO.”

Paris brought “deep commercial expertise, a modern leadership style, and a clear passion for building high-performing teams and strong cultures”, Phillip Mills said.

“Jason is an exceptional leader – truly as good as you get – and we’re delighted he’s decided to join us … with the company on a strong footing and well-positioned for further expansion, now is the right time for me to hand over leadership to an energetic new CEO who can take us into our next exciting chapter.”

Paris, who is in his early 50s, is also a passionate Warriors fan and a director of Ngāi Tahu Holdings.

Jason Paris is known for his passionate support of the New Zealand Warriors.

He was head of digital media at TVNZ before becoming chief executive of TV3 and Four at the time the channels were still owned by MediaWorks.

Between 2011 and 2018 he held senior roles at Telecom, which was renamed Spark part-way through his stint.

In 2018 he joined Vodafone NZ as chief executive. The telco, now 100% owned by NZX-listed Infratil, became One NZ in 2022.

Signature moves under Paris’ leadership included being the first to introduce satellite-to-mobile to the NZ market via a partnership with Elon Musk’s Starlink and strongly pushing AI.

One NZ announced last month that chief financial officer Nick Judd would be its next chief executive.

The company yesterday said Judd would take the reins as its new CEO on August 31.

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