Meet the KickHouse Executive Team
A forward-thinking executive franchise team that prioritizes the success of its franchisees through the success of its members.
James Williams
President & CEO
As the CEO and Co-Founder of Mayweather Boxing + Fitness and Mayweather Fitness Holdings, James saw a unique opportunity to expand on the Mayweather boxing legacy with the acquisition of KickHouse. Eager to empower entrepreneurs to build their own legacies through franchise ownership in the premier boxing fitness brands in the industry, James oversees strategy and leadership for the boutique fitness portfolio brands with an eye on continued growth and evolution.
James was previously an advisor to Beyoncé on her entertainment and management company, Parkwood Entertainment, with a focus on developing Beyoncé’s Ivy Park brand. He also co-founded XPT Life, a performance lifestyle brand created by big-wave surfer and fitness innovator, Laird Hamilton, and professional volleyball player, Gabrielle Reece.
Previously, James had an eight-year career at Bain & Company, where he developed growth strategies and devised business plans for some of the most successful luxury, auto and sports brands in the world. Prior to Bain, James was a corporate lawyer at Clifford Chance, at the time the world’s largest law firm and part of the UK’s “Magic Circle” of elite firms, working in both London and New York. While studying for his MBA, James founded the non-profit, SOMB, which provides school uniforms to children in sub-Saharan Africa. He has visited Zimbabwe, Kenya, Rwanda and South Africa on several occasions to oversee SOMB donations.
James holds an LLB with honors from the University of Leeds, a J.D. from Nottingham Law School, both in the United Kingdom, and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
From the inception of our family of boutique family fitness brands, James’ passion has been the success of our franchisees, the positive impact to our members across the country, and the building of a legacy that everyone associated with it will be immensely proud of.
Dawn Weiss
Chief Marketing Officer
A franchise marketing veteran, Dawn Weiss has spent nearly two decades helping grow and lead the marketing strategy for award-winning, sustainable and early stage brands in the consumer retail, fitness, wellness and beauty industries.
More recently she has spent the last two and a half years at Xponential Fitness where she lead multiple brands simultaneously, including CycleBar, Row House and STRIDE, implementing structure and increasing lead flow substantially during and following the pandemic.
Prior to that she served as COO and CMO of Amazing Lash Studio, as the senior marketing executive at the helm of The Joint Chiropractic, and a founding team member responsible for building the brand platform the Massage Envy Spa franchise still thrives from today. Her tenure was during the most significant growth periods at each of these brands.
Dawn is a well-rounded growth and marketing strategist proficient across a wide variety of marketing mediums. At every turn her focus is on driving marketing that helps brands rise to be the industry-leading best in class.
Ryan Reeves
Chief Development Officer
Ryan brings a unique expertise in franchise system growth and development. He has 15+ years transitioning start up brands into rapidly growing concepts as well as creating platforms to support sustainable development expansion.
Before KickHouse, Ryan spent four and half years at Boston’s Pizza US as Vice President of Franchise Sales and Development. During his tenure, Ryan successfully restructured existing development agreements, brought in several multi-unit partnerships, and positioned the brand for both traditional and non- traditional growth in hotels putting Boston’s on track to double their footprint by 2026.
Prior to that, Ryan specialized in sales, growth, and team development at several other well-known franchise brands, including Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, McAllister’s Deli and SpeedPro Imaging. Ryan is driven by the belief that integrity-based relationship building, and transparency are fundamental in growing a strong, successful business and utilizes this business belief to help grow small concepts into segment leaders.
Gwen Dannenbaum
Director of Fitness Education and Training
Gwen Dannenbaum is a degreed fitness professional with over 25 years of experience in the health and fitness industry working in various roles ranging from personal trainer, group fitness instructor, manager, workout developer, regional director, national director, education consultant, curriculum builder.
She has over 15 years experience instructing Kickboxing and Muay Thai group classes with a focus on acquiring and retaining a large base of students. In addition, she has 12 years of Program Management experience, specifically targeting, launching and building successful group kickboxing formats in mixed martial arts franchise facilities. At her core, Gwen is a competitive fighter, group fitness enthusiast, and has a true love for developing programming that keeps members engaged for a lifetime!
Holding a variety of Certifications including:
- NASM Certified Personal Trainer, ACE Certified Group Fitness Instructor
- RYT200 Yoga Teacher
- Precision Nutrition Level 1 Coach
- CrossFit Level 1 & 2 Coach Certifications
Creating a fun, high energy, and innovative group Kickboxing class curriculum and cultivating a culture of community is what drives her. Gwen wants every KickHouse member to leave our classes feeling empowered, confident, and hungry for more with every KickHouse branded experience!
Gwen is featured in Total Shape Magazine as one of the experts answering how often one should workout.