Phillip Mills (born 13 February 1955) is a New Zealand former

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete and businessman. He is the founder and executive director of Les Mills International and a co-founder of Pure Advantage, a green business lobby group.

Sport

Multiple members of Phillip Mills' immediate family have represented New Zealand in track and field at the

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

and

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

. His father,

Les Mills Leslie Roy Mills (born 1 November 1934) is a New Zealand retired track and field athlete, businessman, and politician. He represented New Zealand at the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games over two decades, competing in the shot put and discu ...

, has competed multiple times in both events. Phillip, along with his mother, Colleen, and younger sister, Donna, were all selected for the

1974 Commonwealth Games The 1974 British Commonwealth Games () were held in Christchurch, New Zealand, from 24 January to 2 February 1974. The bid vote was held in Edinburgh at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games. The event was officially named "the friendly games". T ...

; however, Les was omitted from the team. Mills competed in the 110m hurdles at the

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

and in both the 110m and 400m hurdles at the

1978 Commonwealth Games The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, from 3 to 12 August, two years after the 1976 Summer Olympics was held in Montreal, Quebec. They were boycotted by Nigeria, in protest at New Zealand's sporting contacts with a ...

in Edmonton,

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

. He attended the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

(UCLA) on a track and field scholarship and graduated with a degree in

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

in 1978.

Business

After returning to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

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. In the early 1980s, Mills developed an exercise-to-music choreographed set of exercises and commercialized them based on licensing instructors to lead classes. As of March 2015, there were 18 different programs distributed across 100 countries and by 2023, the workouts were being delivered to 21,000 gyms and clubs across the world. Phillip Mills has also developed a group fitness management system for maximizing the commercial benefits of the Les Mills programs. Mills’ views on fitness industry trends and the secrets of the most successful fitness facilities are regularly shared across the fitness industry.

Sustainability and politics

Mills is an advocate for “green” business. His belief in the importance of

sustainability Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...

has been widely publicised in New Zealand, and he has authored several articles on the financial benefits of a

green economy A green economy is an economy that aims at reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities, and that aims for sustainable development without environmental degradation, degrading the environment. It is closely related with ecological econ ...

along with the need for New Zealand to take action on

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. He is the founder of Pure Advantage, a group of New Zealand business leaders lobbying for green economic policy. In 2010, the Pure Advantage Trust has commissioned a group of world-leading economists to review New Zealand's

green growth Green growth is a concept in economic theory and policymaking used to describe paths of economic growth that are environmentally sustainable. The term was coined in 2005 by the South Korean Rae Kwon Chung ( de), a director at UNESCAP. It is based ...

opportunities. 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. In 2023, Mills continued his support of the Labour Party, offering to match up to $50,000 in donations. Mills' daughter Diana has also spoken to ''Forbes'' about how her parents encouraged feminism in fitness early by promoting "strong is the new skinny".

Awards and recognition

* In 2004, Mills was

Ernst & Young EY, previously known as Ernst & Young, is a multinational corporation, multinational professional services partnership, network based in London, United Kingdom. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and PwC, it is one of the Big Four accounting firms, Big F ...

's New Zealand Entrepreneur of the Year. * In 2005, Les Mills International was named New Zealand Services Exporter of the Year by

NZ Trade and Enterprise New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (; abbreviated NZTE) is New Zealand's international business development agency that focuses on helping New Zealand businesses improve their international engagement. It is considered a Crown agent under the Cr ...

. * In 2009, Mills won Kea New Zealand's World Class New Zealand Award for New Thinking. * In 2011, Mills was presented with an Australian Fitness Network Lifetime Achievement Award and was named on

The National Business Review ''National Business Review'' (or ''NBR'') is one of New Zealand's business news publishing websites. The NBR has focused on delivering breaking business news and analysis since its founding in 1970. NBR is known for its independent journalism f ...

(NBR) Rich List. * In 2022, Mills, his wife

Jackie Mills Jackie Mills (born March 11, 1922, New York City - died March 22, 2010, Beaumont, California) was an American jazz drummer. Biography Mills first learned guitar before picking up drums when he was ten years old. He played in the swing groups of ...

, and his father Les were jointly inducted into the

New Zealand Business Hall of Fame The New Zealand Business Hall of Fame is a figurative hall of fame dedicated to New Zealanders who have made a significant contribution to the economic and social development of New Zealand. The hall was established in 1994 by the Young Enterpri ...

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).Monroe, Mary
“Fit Body, Fit Planet”
IDEA Fitness Journal. September 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, Phillip New Zealand businesspeople Aerobic exercise Living people New Zealand male hurdlers Athletes (track and field) at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1978 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for New Zealand 1955 births New Zealand Athletics Championships winners 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen UCLA Bruins men's track and field athletes