The Health & Fitness Association will recognize Gigliola Aycardi, Martin Seibold, and Chris Craytor for their contributions to the global fitness and wellness industry during The HFA Show 2026, taking place March 16–18 in San Diego.

Washington, DC—February 25, 2026—The Health & Fitness Association will present awards to three industry heavyweights at The HFA Show 2026 March 16-18 in San Diego. Bodytech Colombia Co-Founder and Executive Vice President Gigliola Aycardi will receive the Woman Leader Award in Honor of Julie Main. LifeFit Group CEO Martin Seibold will receive the John Holsinger Global Leader Award. ACAC Fitness & Wellness Centers CEO Chris Craytor will receive the Jim Worthington Advocate of the Year Award.

Gigliola Aycardi

In 1997, Aycardi co-founded Bodytech in Colombia alongside Nicolás Loaiza Aycardi, establishing a pioneering model that integrates fitness, medical services, nutrition counseling, and physiotherapy. The company’s mission centers on increasing longevity, reducing chronic disease, and lowering healthcare costs. Today, the Bodytech Group also includes the Sportlife and Athletic brands.

In 2016, Aycardi helped secure a major growth investment by private equity firm L Catterton.  She and Loaiza have been part of Endeavor Colombia since 2007, joining a global network that supports high-impact entrepreneurship in emerging economies. In 2014, she and Loaiza were named Ernst & Young’s Colombia Entrepreneur of the Year, and the two were finalists for Ernst & Young’s World Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2015. Since 2018, she has served on the Board of Directors of EAN University, Colombia’s university for entrepreneurs.

Martin Seibold

Martin Seibold is widely regarded as one of the fitness industry’s most effective brand builders. As CEO of LifeFit Group, he has overseen significant expansion of the company’s portfolio, which includes Fitness First, ELBGYM, and Club Pilates and YogaSix studios in Germany and Austria through Xponential Fitness.

Under Seibold’s leadership, LifeFit Group secured new private equity backing from Waterland Private Equity and, in early 2025, acquired FIT/One Group—expanding into Austria and accelerating progress toward its goal of operating more than 250 clubs by 2028, which would represent a nearly 400% increase from the 55 clubs the company operated when it was formed in 2019.

Chris Craytor

A steadfast and visionary advocate for the fitness industry, Chris Craytor has been instrumental in helping transform the Health & Fitness Association into the advocacy force it is today. As an HFA board member during the pandemic and later as board chair from 2022–2024, Craytor championed a bold focus on public policy and industry representation at every level of government.

He was pivotal in the creation of the National Health & Fitness Alliance (NHFA), which serves as HFA’s advocacy advisory council. His leadership helped unify operators and industry leaders around a coordinated policy agenda — strengthening the industry’s collective voice through HFA and securing a meaningful seat at the table in Washington, DC, and in state capitals across the country.

He has been deeply engaged in advancing HFA’s federal and state priorities — advocating for expanding HSA and FSA coverage of physical activity, supporting efforts to broaden Medicare’s role in covering fitness and prevention services for aging Americans, and helping push back against harmful legislation in Virginia. Through direct engagement with lawmakers and regulators, Craytor has worked to ensure fitness is recognized not simply as recreation, but as an essential component of preventive health policy.

These awards reflect HFA’s commitment to recognizing leaders who not only build great companies, but who strengthen and protect the entire health and fitness industry. In addition to these awards, HFA will recognize eight pioneers at the HFA Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at 6:30 p.m. on March 15 at the Omni Hotel in San Diego. More details about The HFA Show are available here.  

About the Health & Fitness Association
The Health & Fitness Association (formerly IHRSA), a global community of industry leaders, is the only worldwide trade association providing a unified voice for the community of leaders who operate health and fitness facilities, offer professional guidance on physical activity, and provide the tools and equipment to do so to the millions of fitness facility members who understand that exercise improves their physical and mental health. Through advocacy, education, and research, the association speaks to opportunities, challenges, and changes that are moving the industry into a new era.

Founded in 1981, the association publishes a monthly magazine, Health & Fitness Business, and operates The HFA Show, the HFA European Congress, and the Fly-In and Advocacy Summit. The association also partners on events around the world, including Fitness Brasil, ChinaFit, MEFIT Summit and Wellness & Fitness LATAM. Follow the Health & Fitness Association on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and YouTube.