Leading a Health Revolution – Team Profile: Ken Viglio – Sr. Director Business Development

Leading a Health Revolution – Team Profile: Ken Viglio – Senior Director of Business Development

As we surpass a major milestone, our company’s 30th Anniversary, we wanted to celebrate the people that have led us to where we are today. By sharing their stories, their inspirations and lessons learned, we hope to enthuse others to pursue their goals and aspirations, so together we can lead a health revolution that moves the world. This month we feature one of CFW All Star’s – our Senior Director of Business Development, Ken Viglio!

The Ah-Ha Moment

At a young age, Ken learned all about being part of a team. When he was just 8 years old, he joined a pee wee football league (his coach reinforcing the “there is no “I” in team” mentality) and from that moment, through middle school and high school, Ken participated in not only football, but basketball and baseball too. While fitness has always been an important part of Ken’s life, he also found he had a passion for wellness. He carried that passion with him into college, beginning his collegiate career in Nursing, before eventually switching his major to Exercise Science. Ken graduated from Youngstown State University with a Bachelor’s in Exercise Science and a minor in Wellness. His roles may have changed over the years, from Health Fitness Specialist to his current role as Senior Director of Business Development, but his desire to set others up for success remains a driving force.Pictured above is young Ken in action, learning the values of teamwork and commitment while playing in pee wee football leagues.

We asked Ken to share a few things about his career journey and success with Corporate Fitness Works. This is what he had to say…


Tell us about a time in your studies or in your career that helped you prepare for the challenges you face in your role today? 

Being in the wellness and fitness industry for more than 25 years, and the fact that I have worked in many areas of wellness and fitness, including home exercise equipment sales, fitness specialist, cardiac rehab specialist, fitness center program manager, health promotion coordinator, Director of Wellness, Director of New Business, Director of Business Development and my current role as Sr. Director of Business Development. Having served in each of these roles and working with and meeting a variety of people has prepared me for the challenges in my role today. I also do not look at things as “challenges” rather as opportunities to set up a fellow Team Leader or client for success or to help them achieve their goals (#succeedtogether).

What is your #1 motivator? What are you most passionate about in the work that you do?

My #1 Motivator is I love what I do. I genuinely believe the products and services that CFW provides improve the health and wellbeing of our clients and I am confident that our CFW Team Leaders can deliver these products and services better than any of our competitors. It’s easy to be passionate when I can see the benefits to our clients and their employees.

I’m also passionate about meeting people and learning about them beyond just a business/working interaction. I am proud of CFW and the Team Leaders that represent this amazing company and that I have the honor/pleasure of working with on a daily basis. The family environment is a motivator because we all want to do our best every day and truly care about each other and the success of CFW. This makes it easy to get up and go to work every day!

Describe the key steps you took in the path to your career success/career growth that made the greatest impact?

When new growth opportunities were presented to me I accepted the challenge to learn and develop new skills. Each one of these career opportunities gave me the ability to add to my tool kit and sometimes take me out of my comfort zone. It was the willingness to accept uncertainty in new roles in an effort to learn more about the company and our industry. I served in a variety of wellness and fitness roles over the past 25 years, which include Health Fitness Specialist and Program Manager at the Department of Justice, to overseeing the company wellness services for more than 5 years. It was this path that set me up for success as the Sr. Director of Business development and the ability to offer our services to potential clients.

How does your role as Senior Director of Business Development support Team Leader growth and our business growth?

As a member of the Business Development Team our role in helping to maintain existing contracts and win new business is fundamental to providing new opportunities to Team Leaders and maintaining a profitable business environment for CFW.

How does your role most impact our client’s (and the members we serve) success?

The services we provide ensure a healthy workforce for our clients they also produce an incentive for employees to stay with their existing employer.

My role as part of the Business Development team is to engage with clients in an effort to identify and understand their needs, culture and goals of the services they are requesting.

Achieving the above requires a series of interactions with each prospective client sometimes over a period of weeks or months (maybe years) in an effort to build the rapport and trust with them.

Share a career highlight.

I have several career highlights.  However, the three that come to mind that I am most proud of are:

  • When I was Director of Wellness Services, I had the opportunity to work with the National Volunteer Fire Council. We built a successful partnership as their biometric screening provider at their National and Regional Conferences. The project was to provide blood pressure, body composition and cholesterol screenings for Volunteer Firefighters and their families in an effort to educate them on the effects of heart disease. The work was important and fulfilling as we were able to help many recognize risks and inspire habit changes for themselves and their loved ones.
  • Another highlight from when I was Director of Wellness Services; I became an American Council on Exercise (ACE) Subject Matter Expert, reviewing the course curriculum for the ACE Personal Trainer and Health Coach Certifications. In addition, I was part of our company’s ACE recognized certification team. This team was responsible for working with the Marine Corps to certify their employees in either the Personal Training, Health Coach or Clinical Exercise Specialist areas. We developed a study-course then traveled the U.S and the world to include Okinawa, Japan to teach our week-long course to include the certification exam.
  • Last, but not least, was my First Women Business Enterprise National Council Conference in Orlando, FL. It was amazing to participate as part of the Host Chair and see so many women-owned companies networking and supporting each other. This not only impressed me but inspired me in what I do in my role as Sr. Director of Business Development.
If you could share one “value added tip” as Senior Director of Business Development for CFW, what would it be?

If I can share one tip, it is that teamwork is the most important ingredient in the success of CFW.  I learned as an 8-year-old boy playing in my first football game my coach saying …yes you guessed it…there is no “I” in team.

Teamwork is important from the moment we meet a new client, throughout the proposal process, on to the WIN and CELEBRATION. This extends to the hand-off to project management and onsite Team Leaders for grand opening, start-up operations, and beyond…

There is a reason we call our employees Team Leaders and we thrive through our TEAM Culture.  We #succeedtogether as a FAMILY!

Please share an interesting fact about you that you would want our Team and our clients to know about you? This can be career related or personal.

In keeping with our “Achieving TEAM Culture – Mission to Master” here are five things that you may or may not know about me:

  • I am one of 5 boys in a single parent family and my Mom is my HERO!
  • I have been playing competitive softball for the past 25 years…and most recently at the Master’s Level (age alert 😊)
  • I love the water and love scuba diving (favorite location Grand Cayman)
  • I grew up in Ohio and will always be a Cleveland Fan! Go Browns, Go Indians!
  • In my 25-year fitness career I have worked for clients such as Procter & Gamble, Ford Motor Company and GE Aircraft Engines and FedEx

Pictured above is a collage of Ken doing one of the things he does best; representing CFW at business and industry conferences and making strong connections with every person he meets. Top left: Ken with Team Leaders at his first WBENC conference in Orlando, FL. Bottom left: Ken attending Club Management Association of America annual conference. Right: Ken and teammate Matt Parrott exhibiting at BOMA 2017.