Name: James FitzGerald
Degree program: BPE (Hons), Bio minor
Graduating class of: 1998
Current occupation: Owner – OPEX Fitness
Personal interests: exercise, existence, excellence
Connect with James @jfitzopex

Where did your Memorial education take you?

It was a base of support needed to move into a career in fitness.

What have you done since graduating?

Since graduating I have moved from St Johns to Calgary now to Arizona. I have since started a family and have 2 beautiful growing young girls and a happy marriage of 12 years. Since graduation I have grown my fitness business from being on my own to 35 employees and over 2100 coaches in over 50 countries.

What are some of your career highlights?

I would say the success in the business of fitness coaching is the biggest success – being able to reach so many minds and help them offer the best prescriptions possible in fitness feels worthy to me.

What are you doing now?

Right now I lead the team at OPEX in delivery of our education and coaching to the world.

What excites you about your work when you wake up each morning?

I am a curious person so being able to teach, learn, move and create every day excites me.

What did you enjoy most about your Memorial student experience?

The people – the students in my class and everyone involved in the PE building pretty much sums it up for what I liked “most.”

What advice would you have for a student considering studying in the field of Human Kinetics and Recreation?

Keep asking GREAT questions!

What plans do you have for the future?

To change the face of fitness through inspiring fitness coaches to have a career they are proud of and athletes to grow to levels of physical expression they never deemed possible.