Kingfisher Lynch Group

Gym Location: Ennis and Dromoland in Clare and Castlebar in Mayo

Background: After growing up in a sports mad house it was no surprise really that I ended up in the leisure industry. As a teenager and into my early twenties I played as many sports as possible encouraged by my Dad, Football, Hurling and Basketball being my main sports, I started working in the West County Leisure Club in 1996 after three year in College studying sports management. I stayed working with the lynch group for the number of years working my way up to becoming manager of the west county in 2002. During my first year back in the West County we succeeded in obtaining the White Flag Award, which we still hold today in all of our Kingfisher Clubs. I started working with the Kingfisher Group in Feb. of 2006 and since then stepped up to my current position.

Role: My role is support the Managers in each of the Clubs so that we can deliver the best service to our all our Customers. My role also involves organising different events. This year we are organising a Charity swim in aid of Goal Ireland who celebrate 30 years helping those who have suffered humanitarian disasters. The swim takes place on Friday the 16th of November in each of the kingfisher clubs and we are encouraging all our members to get involved. Information is available in your local club so please ask for details.

What’s a difficult day at the gym like for you?: Like any job you have your good and bad days. But in this job you just never know that is ahead of you when you get up in the morning. Lets just say life is never boring in this job.

What are your plans for the Kingfisher?:This year we are launching a number of different new classes to our members as well as expanding our current range of classes which includes body pump, Mind, body and Soul, and boxercise, keep an eye out for our new gym bases classes which will be fun mini classes concentrating on specific areas of the body such as Stomach and those dreaded thighs.

What one bit of advice would you give to existing members or new members joining?: Whether you are a new or a renewing member, try to get in to the club as many times as you can in the first two months, the secret to success is to walk through the door.

Kevin Donohue is the Sales Manager for the Kingfisher Club in Ennis. He has been with the company since February in 2007 Originally from Galway, Kevin's background is in Sales and Customer Service and has worked for a period of time in Germany,France and the UK in this area.

Since returning to Ireland he has worked for 2 years with RBS Insurance in Galway as a Sales Team leader and 2 and a half years with CitiGroup Ireland in the Financial Services sector in both Galway and Dublin.

Since taking up his current post he has been involved directly in Major customer Retention schemes such as Loyalty and Reward Incentives, Corporate packages to local businesses and Promoting the Kingfisher Brand in the area through community involvement in such areas as Football leagues, Tag Rugby, Age Action and local GAA Club.

Kevin is an average Swimmer, plays hurling badly and football worse and likes to fall off his surf board during the summer months in Lahinch. He likes a good book and speaks Fluent German.