GoodLife Fitness is tapping a marketer from the food world to be its new VP of marketing.

Nicole Pekerman comes to the health club brand after stints in senior marketing roles for QSR and CPG brands: she’s a former Tim Hortons VP of marketing for Restaurant Brands International and Weston Foods’ former head of marketing for North America, brand build and marketing services.

At GoodLife Fitness, Pekerman says she plans to listen to and evolve with consumers to reflect how they have changed through the course of the pandemic. She will also amplify the organization’s efforts to deliver the best hybrid experience of in-club and digital offerings, bringing consumers options to be fit and healthy wherever and whenever they most enjoy working out.

According to GoodLife chief operating officer Jason Sheridan, Pekerman brings to the position the right combination of consumer brand marketing experience, business savvy and a love of fitness.

“What stood out for us it her leadership style, her incredible passion for fitness, her depth of knowledge and expertise in the marketing space, and the relevant experience she’s had,” Sheridan says, also citing the fitness motivation app Paid Workout, which Pekerman created and developed after leaving RBI in 2021, acquiring 100,000 members in the first year.

At Weston, she helped position Country Harvest bread as a heart-healthy brand aimed at go-getters, and also developed one of D’Italiano’s first experiential brand activations, through The Italian Tenors and eTalk. Pekerman is also a longtime strategy and innovation grocery sector lead for Kraft Heinz, working on brands such as KD, Kraft Peanut Butter, Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Delissio, and Kraft Salad Dressings.

Peckerman joins Goodlife as it aims to build back from the pandemic, which kept its gyms closed for much of the last two years, resulting in recent layoffs that included 480 fitness instructors from 189 clubs across Canada. In February, it launched a campaign meant to welcome members back to its clubs, while also promoting the hybrid training options it had developed during closures. That same month, the brand added to those offerings, acquiringthe exclusive Canadian rights to Craft Boxing Clubs with plans to brings its programs to clubs nationwide over the next two years.