Beth received her BA degree and MA degree from Spring Arbor University and Michigan State University, respectively. She studied under the legendary physiologist Arthur Steinhaus. She is the author of The Complete Book of Aerobic Dancing (1979) and co-author of Aerobics with Fun (1982) and Feelin’ Good® Fitness Report (1984). In the early 70s she provided physical fitness/weight control and stress management/relaxation classes while a professor at Jackson College in Jackson MI. In 1977-1980 as Department Chair she increased the number of community fitness classes for adults from 4 to 60, the number of professional full-time staff doubled and part time instructors increased from 0 to 12.
In 1979 she became President of Fitness Finders, Inc., a fitness consulting and program development company that trained more than 1,000 YMCA professionals peppered across the U.S., Canada and Australia. The company also created numerous wellness programs for the likes of Phillips Petroleum (Operation Lifestyle), Campbell’s Soup (The Turnaround), YMCA of the USA (Feelin’ Good and Activetics), McDonalds (Healthy Growing Up), and Pacific Life (Families in Training®). In 1980 she and her husband Charles received a large grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to evaluate their cardiovascular risk reduction program for youth (Feelin’ Good®). In 1982 she was named Senior VP for Living Well, Ltd. (a NASDAQ company) after successfully selling the Fitness Finders’ Living Well program to the Houstonian.
In 1990 she became Director of Research and Development Initiatives for the Division of Kinesiology at the University of Michigan. From 1996 to 2000 she continued her services with the University as a Research Associate for the Blue Cross and Blue Shield funded Fitness for Youth Program that tested more than 35,000 children annually on fitness, BMIs and blood cholesterols.
Under her leadership Fitness Finders currently has more than 20,000 USA schools in North America. Fitness Finders® and its Shaping America’s Future® mission has 10 different motivational programs and over 300 awards designed to develop the body, mind and character of America’s youth. The company’s current most successful program, the Mileage Club®, last year (2012-13, school year) encouraged America’s youth to exercise a total of 372 million minutes. That translates to 31 million miles of walking, running and jogging a year.
