Background
Phillip Mills was born into an athletic family. His father Les, mother Colleen and sister Donna all represented New Zealand at Olympic and/or Commonwealth Games in track and field
Phillip Mills was born into an athletic family. His father Les, mother Colleen and sister Donna all represented New Zealand at Olympic and/or Commonwealth Games in track and field
He attended the University of California, Los Angeles (University of California, Los Angeles) on a track and field scholarship, and graduated with a degree in philosophy in 1978.
The Les Mills business floated on 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. Phillip Mills continues to operate the Les Mills gym business in New Zealand.
As of May 2015, there are 11 Les Mills fitness facilities in New Zealand and a total of 50,000 Les Mills members.
In the early 1980s Phillip Mills developed an exercise-to-music system based on instructor training, exercise choreography and music Les Mills International uses this system to create and distribute various fitness programs internationally.
As of March 2015, there are 18 different programs distributed across 100 countries. Phillip Mills has also developed a group fitness management system for maximizing the commercial benefits of the Les Mills programs.
Phillip Mills’ views on fitness industry trends and the secrets of the most successful fitness facilities are regularly shared across the fitness industry.
In 2004, Mills was named Ernst & Young"s New Zealand Entrepreneur of the Year. He was a judge at the 2006 Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year in Monte Carlo. In recent years Phillip Mills was named on The National Review (NBR) Rich List in 2011.
Mills is an advocate for “green” business.
His belief in the importance of sustainability has been widely publicised in New Zealand and he has authored a number of articles on the financial benefits of a clean, green economy along with the need for New Zealand to take action on climate change. The Pure Advantage Trust has recently commissioned a group of world-leading economists to review New Zealand"s green growth opportunities.