Humphrey Cobbold

Humphrey Michael Cobbold (born 13 November 1964)^[1] is the chair^[2] of PureGym, a UK gym operator. He joined the business in 2015 when there were 84 gyms, which are now approximately 700 in number.

Humphrey Cobbold
Born	Humphrey Michael Cobbold (1964-11-13) 13 November 1964 (age 60) Nairobi, Kenya
Alma mater	University of Cambridge INSEAD
Title	Chair, PureGym
Spouse	Nicola Hacker ​ (m. 1991)​
Children	3
Relatives	Robert Runcie (uncle)

Early life and education

Cobbold was born on 13 November 1964 in Nairobi, Kenya.^[3][4] He attended Bromsgrove School,^[5] an independent boarding and day school in the Worcestershire town of Bromsgrove, followed by the University of Cambridge and INSEAD, from which he obtained an MBA.^[6]

Career

Cobbold is the former chief executive officer of Wiggle Ltd., a UK-based online retailer of cycling and triathlon-related products. He is a former chairman of Fish4, a British recruitment website,^[7] as well as the Director of Strategic Development and executive committee member of Trinity Mirror.^[8]

Before joining Fish4 and Trinity Mirror, he was a partner^[8] and the co-head of the UK media practice for the global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company.

Before he went into politics, Cobbold was taught in secondary school by prominent UK politician Edwina Currie.

Leaving Wiggle

In September 2009, Humphrey Cobbold began his position as the CEO of Wiggle Ltd., a Portsmouth-based online retailer. He headed the online bicycle retailer during some trying times, including the period when Bridgepoint was in the process of acquiring Wiggle Ltd. In late 2013, Cobbold departed from Wiggle as its CEO and in September of that year, his successor would be Stefan Barden. While Cobbold captained Wiggle Ltd., the company saw its annual sales revenues increase from 33 million pounds to over 140 million pounds; Cobbold described managing the company while it was experiencing speedy and high growth as "trying to ride a tiger".

Upon leaving Wiggle Ltd. as its CEO, Cobbold stated, “I have had the privilege to work with a truly fabulous group of colleagues and business partners over the last four years. The time is now right for someone else to lead the peloton and take Wiggle forward to future success.”^[9]

He has since been linked to a bid to buy the internet retailer sofa.com.^[10]

PureGym

Since 2013, Cobbold has been the CEO of PureGym, a network of over 400 gyms with more than 1.1 million members. In 2019 PureGym acquired Fitness World.^[11][12]

Personal life

Cobbold is married to Nicola and has three children. His brother Tim is the former chief executive of UBM plc. Cobbold is the nephew of Robert Runcie, the former Archbishop of Canterbury.^[13][3]