Sept. 16, 2025

This week’s Up-and-Comer is John Witzke, senior director of sales at Anytime Fitness.

Name: John Witzke

Age: 26

Hometown: Estherville, Iowa

What brought you to Sioux Falls?

I originally moved to Brandon, South Dakota, to take a new position at a company called Victra. Through that company, I managed the Brandon, Brookings and eventually the Sioux Falls 26th Street location.

What keeps you in Sioux Falls?

The people that have mentored me, guided me and that I have met along my professional journey became my home and my family (and) are the biggest reasons above all we planted our flag in Sioux Falls. Cresten Capital’s headquarters is in Sioux Falls, and this is where we want to raise our kids.

What’s your favorite thing about your job?

I love mentoring people and showing them what’s possible. We operate 57 Anytime Fitness clubs in 12 states, which gives us a plethora of growth opportunities for the people in our company putting in the work, and my favorite thing is watching them and helping them take advantage of those opportunities.

How did you get connected to your industry?

This is my eighth year working for Kevin Tupy in some shape or form. I helped scale our Verizon business to 1,500 locations, worked on our real estate portfolio, and then the opportunity came to come help scale a business that had a meaningful cause, and it gave the opportunity to work with another one of my mentors, Luke Andrus, who is the CEO. So it was a dream come true to be able to do good, with good people.

Describe your workplace in three words.

Fast, challenging, rewarding.

What is something someone might be surprised to learn about you?

I’m probably going to run for president one day. 😉

What’s your favorite way to give back to your community?

Anything that involves getting the community together in a social setting. I think that’s the whole premise of community: togetherness. If we can do that at the same time as supporting a charitable cause, that’s great, but anytime you can get a group of neighbors together to form a community, that’s what it’s all about.

What’s one business you’d like to see in Sioux Falls that isn’t here now?

I think we need a pickleball/bar/entertainment concept. You see them popping up all around the nation; it’s almost like a Topgolf in pickleball format. If you’re reading this and take this idea, at least cut me in! 😉