Chelsea Piers CT Announces New Fitness Center Management Team by Erica Bates Carolina Quiroga
Kathy Salvo
Suzanne Vita Ponticello
(Stamford, CT – August 20, 2014)
– Chelsea Piers Connecticut is pleased to announce the management team
for CP-AC Fitness, the 65,000 square-foot health & fitness facility
and clubhouse opening December 2014 in a previously vacant space
adjacent to the current 400,000 square-foot Chelsea Piers sports
complex. Carolina Quiroga has been named the Fitness Club
Director of the new facility with Suzanne Vita Ponticello hired as the
new Training and Program Director and Kathy Salvo being promoted to the
role of Group Fitness Director. Rounding out the management team
is Suzanne Pullen as Membership Director.
Quiroga will be
responsible for the overall day-to-day operations of CP-AC Fitness,
including program development, personnel hiring and training, as well
as equipment and facility operations. Reporting to Quiroga
will be Ponticello who will be responsible for all of the personal
trainers and small group training keeping CP-AC on the cutting edge of
personalized training. In addition to Masters Swimming, Salvo
will add Group Fitness Director and be charged with designing a robust
class offering of more than 75 classes a week including a large number
of yoga, hot yoga, barre and pilates classes in the mind body area as
well as traditional classes such as TRX, boot camp, CompuTrainer
classes, kick boxing and heart rate based circuit training.
Pullen will remain as the Membership Director overseeing all individual
and family memberships and sales.
The team has a varied
and impressive background in the health, fitness and club management
industry. Quiroga most recently ran the Lifetime Fitness facility
in Berkeley Heights, NJ where she oversaw a team of 250 employees and
more than 10,000 members. Prior to Lifetime Fitness Quiroga was
the General Manager for two flagship health clubs in New York City -
David Barton and New York Health and Racquet Club. Quiroga also
has a background as a collegiate basketball and volleyball player.
Ponticello most
recently worked as the Director of Health and Fitness at the Darien
YMCA. At the YMCA Ponticello oversaw all the personal training
and group fitness instructors and was responsible for training
protocols, program curriculum and 110 weekly group fitness
classes. Prior to her time at the YMCA, Ponticello was a personal
trainer, CrossFit instructor and kettlebell trainer at a number of
fitness facilities. Ponticello, a Stamford native, has a degree
in nutrition as well as CrossFit and Kettlebell certifications.
Salvo, who resides in
New Canaan, joined Chelsea Piers Connecticut as the Masters Swim coach
in July 2012 as the facility opened. In 2005 Salvo left her
nearly two decade career in finance to pursue her passion for yoga
full-time. She has more than 1,100 hours of yoga training from
some of the best teachers in the United States including Rodney and
Colleen Saidman Yee, Richard Rosen, and Dr. Judith Lasater. Salvo
is the highest level yoga teacher - an E- RYT 500 representing both
training and teaching credentials. Additionally, Salvo has
competed in more than 100 triathlons of varying lengths including 9
Ironman races and is a US Masters Swim Level III coach.
Pullen, who was the
first full-time employee at Chelsea Piers Connecticut will continue in
her role as Membership Director for the complex. Prior to joining
Chelsea Piers, Pullen spent nearly a decade as Marketing Director as
well as overseeing the Gymnastics program at the Darien YMCA. A
former ACC gymnast and two-time D1 soccer mom, Pullen brings extensive
sports and membership experience to the team. Pullen lives in
Fairfield, CT.
“We are thrilled to
have assembled such a varied and experienced leadership team,”
commented Greta Wagner, Executive Director, Chelsea Piers
Connecticut. “With this team we have extensive club management,
mind body, team sports, personal training, and group fitness
experience. Additionally having two members of the leadership
team with us since opening, we are confident that the quality of the
product and the customer experience will be consistent. We are
committed to creating an environment at the Athletic Club that will
support our members’ health and fitness goals; the team we have
assembled is uniquely positioned to do just that.”
CP-AC Fitness will
feature 25,000 square feet of strength and cardio equipment, a
dedicated mind/body center for Pilates Reformer classes,
multi-disciplinary and hot yoga, as well as traditional group fitness
studios and dedicated space for triathlon and competitive cycling
training. Group exercise will be taken to a new level with over 75+
weekly fitness classes and programs. Additionally, there will be
a custom Queenax Bridge studio creating endless possibilities for
suspension, boxing and functional training. Membership also
includes access to the Olympic-sized pool, hardwood basketball courts,
1/5 mile indoor track, indoor turf fields, plus tennis and squash
courts.
In addition to
world-class athletic facilities, members will enjoy significant
benefits throughout the sports complex, including babysitting services,
two beautifully appointed luxury lounges and cafes (one for families
and one for adults only), steam rooms and saunas in new finely
appointed locker rooms, and massage therapy rooms. Early
registration privileges and preferred member pricing for sports
programming throughout Chelsea Piers are additional benefits designed
to meet the needs of the active customer that Chelsea Piers serves.
About Chelsea Piers Connecticut
Chelsea Piers
Connecticut (CPCT) is a is a 465,000-square-foot state-of-the-art
sports and recreation facility located in Stamford, CT, just off I-95
at Exit 9. Opened in July 2012, CPCT features two indoor ice
rinks, an Olympic pool and adjacent 6,000-sq.-ft. Splash Zone indoor
water park, a 14,000-sq.-ft. gymnastics training center, 11 singles and
one hardball doubles squash court, seven indoor hard court tennis
courts, an indoor turf baseball/softball training facility and five
batting cages, a 12,000-sq.-ft. Adventure Center featuring a
recreational trampoline center, a 24-foot high rock wall and a Little
Athletes gym for children 6 months to five years, and a Field House
with a 100-yard turf field, four hardwood basketball/volleyball courts
and a 1/5-mile track.
Like Chelsea Piers New
York, CPCT combines world-class athletic facilities with an extensive
array of professional instructors and year-round sports programming for
children and adults of all ages. There are teams in nine sports
competing under the Chelsea Piers Athletic Club umbrella.
CPCT is also home to a
childcare facility and preschool, a Harrow pro shop, a grab-and-go
café, a 150-seat restaurant and bar, Stamford Hospital’s 18,500-sq.-ft.
Orthopedic and Spine Institute, CrossFit S-Town and a BlueStreak Sports
athletic training center.
