MARK KING
CEO, XPONENTIAL FITNESS INC.
WHY: Former head of Taco Bell and newest chief executive of Irvine-based boutique fitness franchisor (NYSE: XPOF), sporting over 3,100 studios across nine brands with $657M market cap as of September.
IN THE NEWS: Replaced former Xponential CEO in June to take over his first fitness gig; shares jumped 34% in trading session following appointment.
NOTABLE: Retired from fast-food chain at end of 2023; helped Taco Bell grow to almost $15B in sales over five-year tenure. Named a Businessperson of the Year by the Business Journal in January. Also boasts 40-year career in retail.
QUOTABLE: “Every company I’ve led has had strong, growing brands, passionate stakeholders and scalable teams with models that are poised to generate significant cash with some fine tuning. I see the exact same things at Xponential.”
