Phillip Mills

This article is about the athlete and businessman. For the rally driver, see Phil Mills.

Phillip Mills (born 13 February 1955 in Auckland) is a former track and field athlete and businessman from New Zealand. He is the founder and executive director of Les Mills International and a co-founder of Pure Advantage, a green business lobby group.^[1][2][3]

Phillip Mills
Phillip Mills
Born	(1955-02-13) 13 February 1955 (age 69) Auckland, New Zealand
Occupation(s)	Sportsman, businessman

Sport

Multiple members of Mills' immediate family have represented New Zealand at the Olympic and Commonwealth Games in track and field. His father Les has been representative multiple times for both games. Phillip, together with his mother Colleen and younger sister Donna, were all selected for the 1974 Commonwealth Games; Les was controversially omitted from the team.^[4][5][6]

Mills competed in the 110m hurdles at the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch and the 110m and 400m hurdles at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Alberta.^[7] He attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) on a track and field scholarship and graduated with a degree in philosophy in 1978.

Business

After returning to New Zealand in 1979, Mills took an increasing role in the Les Mills fitness club business founded by his parents, Les and Colleen Mills, in 1968. The Les Mills business launched onto the stock market in 1984 and was taken over by an investment company in 1987. After the share market crash that year, Mills bought the business back.^[8][9]

In the early 1980s, Mills developed an exercise-to-music choreographed set of exercises and commercialised them based on licensing instructors to lead classes.^[10][11]

As of March 2015, there were 18 different programs distributed across 100 countries^[12] and by 2023, the workouts were being delivered to 21,000 gyms and clubs across the world.^[13] Phillip Mills has also developed a group fitness management system for maximising the commercial benefits of the Les Mills programs.^[14]

Mills’ views on fitness industry trends and the secrets of the most successful fitness facilities are regularly shared across the fitness industry.^[15][16][17]

Sustainability and politics

Mills is an advocate for “green” business.^[18][19] His belief in the importance of sustainability has been widely publicised in New Zealand,^[20][21] and he has authored several articles on the financial benefits of a green economy along with the need for New Zealand to take action on climate change.^[22][23][24]

He is the founder of Pure Advantage, a group of New Zealand business leaders lobbying for green economic policy.^[25] In 2010, the Pure Advantage Trust has commissioned a group of world-leading economists to review New Zealand's green growth opportunities.^[26][27][28]

Prompted by a perceived lack of action from the Government on climate change, in 2014, Mills gave $64,999 to the Labour Party and $60,000 to the Green Party.^[29] In 2023, Mills continued his support of the Labour Party, offering to match up to $50,000 in donations.^[30]

Mills' daughter Diana has also spoken to Forbes about how her parents encouraged feminism in fitness early by promoting "strong is the new skinny".^[31]

Awards and recognition

• In 2004, Mills was Ernst & Young's New Zealand Entrepreneur of the Year.^[32]
• In 2005, Les Mills International was named New Zealand Services Exporter of the Year by NZ Trade and Enterprise.
• In 2009, Mills won Kea New Zealand's World Class New Zealand Award for New Thinking.^[33][34]
• In 2011, Mills was presented with an Australian Fitness Network Lifetime Achievement Award^[35] and was named on The National Business Review (NBR) Rich List.^[36]
• In 2022, Mills, his wife Jackie Mills, and his father Les were jointly inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame.^[37]

Works and publications

In 2007 Mills and his wife, Jackie Mills, published Fighting Globesity – A Practical Guide To Personal Health and Global Sustainability (Random House).^[38][39]

References

1. "Phillip Mills and Barry Coates: Stakes too high to stay silent on climate change". New Zealand Herald. 21 May 2015.
2. The Future of Fitness White Paper – Les Mills International. “The Future of Fitness”. Accessed 03 June 2015.
3. Les Mills (2019). "Our Leaders". Les Mills. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
4. New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association website. Les Mills profile. 2010. Accessed 28 July 2010.
5. New Zealand Olympic Committee|New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association website. Colleen Mills profile. 2010. Accessed 28 July 2010.
6. New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association website. Donna Mills profile. 2010. Accessed 28 July 2010.
7. New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association website. Phillip Mills profile. 2010. Accessed 28 July 2010.
8. "Twelve Questions: Phillip Mills". New Zealand Herald. 20 January 2015.
9. Scoop Business. Les Mills Unleashes New World-Class Gym In Britomart Auck
10. Phillip Mills 2 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Magazines Today
11. Felstead, Alan; Bishop, Daniel; Fuller, Alison; Jewson, Nick; Lee, Tracey; Unwin, Lorna (June 2006). (PDF). Learning as Work Research Paper, No. 6: Cardiff School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 September 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
12. New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. All the right moves 2 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine
13. "Les Mills CEO throws in the sweat towel". NZ Herald. 16 November 2023. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
14. The New Zealand Listener. Influentials: Business movers
15. "Les Mills CEO: HIIT training popular". CNN. 17 April 2012.
16. "Group Exercise for Growth and Strength". OnSite Fitness. 1 April 2012.^{[permanent dead link]}
17. "Fitness is now the world's biggest sport, according to Les Mills survey". Health Club Management. 11 March 2014.
18. Mills, Phillip. “Green chances far outweigh costs”. New Zealand Herald. 2 January 2010.
19. Mills, Phillip. “To do more than catch up, we need to clean up and green up”. Dominion Post. 25 February 2010.
20. "Lisa Owen interviews Les Mills CEO Phillip Mills". Scoop Politics. 3 May 2014.
21. "Climate swings donor left". New Zealand Herald. 15 April 2014.
22. "To do more than catch up, we need to clean up and green up". The Dominion Post. 25 February 2010.
23. "Phillip Mills: Green chances far outweigh costs". New Zealand Herald. 2 January 2010.
24. "Phillip Mills and Barry Coates: Stakes too high to stay silent on climate change". New Zealand Herald. 21 May 2015.
25. Fallow, Brian. “The upside of climate change”. New Zealand Herald. 21 January 2010.
26. Revington, Mark. “New Zealand's cleantech change agents”. Unlimited. 21 June 2010.
27. Tobias, Chris. “One hundred percent” 23 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Idealog No. 27. 2010.
28. 100% Plan website. Accessed 28 July 2010.
29. Davison, Isaac (16 November 2023). "Climate swings donor left - New Zealand News". NZ Herald. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
30. "Wealthy donors match $150,000 in small donations to Labour". NZ Herald. 16 November 2023. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
31. Piazza, Jo (7 August 2018). "Bringing A Female Touch To A Family Fitness Business". Forbes. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
32. . Ernst & Young. Archived from the original on 9 February 2013.
33. Kea New Zealand website. “Winners of the 2009 World Class New Zealand Awards”. Accessed 28 July, 2010. 27 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine
34. Made from New Zealand website. Video interview: “Phillip Mills – World Class New Zealand – Les Mills”. 2009.
35. Lifetime Achievement Award Winners. Australian Fitness Network. 2011.
36. The National Business Review MILLS Phillip & Jacqui 26 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine
37. "Past laureates". Business Hall of Fame. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
38. Mills, Phillip and Dr Jackie Mills MD. Fighting Globesity: A Practical Guide to Personal Health and Sustainability. Random House. 2007.
39. Monroe, Mary. “Fit Body, Fit Planet”. IDEA Fitness Journal. September 2008.