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BOSTON – April 12, 2004 – The International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) has assembled an impressive roster of guest speakers for the association’s 2004 Legislative Summit, which will take place May 19 – 21, 2004 at the JW Marriott Hotel in Washington, DC.
Scheduled speakers will include Chris Matthews, host of Hardball with Chris Matthews and The Chris Matthews Show. Matthews will deliver a keynote presentation at the Summit. In addition, Greg Crister, author of Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World and Melissa Johnson, executive director of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness And Sports will speak.
“It is essential that our industry continue its engagement in political activity and the Legislative Summit provides our industry with a platform from which to sound its voice to members of Congress,” said John McCarthy, executive director of IHRSA. “The Summit is also an extremely important educational experience and I am confident that Summit attendees will benefit greatly from the presentations of all of the scheduled speakers.”
About Chris Matthews
Chris Matthews is the Creator and Host of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews and star of NBC's The Chris Matthews Show. He also anchors MSNBC’s election coverage.
Matthews has 16 years of journalistic experience as the Washington Bureau Chief of the San Francisco Examiner and a national columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. Matthews was also a nationally syndicated columnist appearing in 200 American newspapers. As a journalist, he reported on the opening of the Berlin Wall, the first all-races election in South Africa, the Good Friday peace talks in Northern Ireland and produced a series of San Francisco Examiner scoops (1997 to 1998) on the Nixon White House tapes. He has twice received The Washington Post’s Crystal Ball award for his successful predictions of United States presidential elections.
Matthews has 15 years of political experience as a Presidential speechwriter and White House aide to President Jimmy Carter, top assistant to US Speaker of the House Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill Jr., staff assistant to the Unites States Senate Budget Committee and Legislative Assistant to Senator Frank Moss of Utah.
Matthews has received honorary doctoral degrees from twelve colleges and universities. He has given the The John Hazen White lecture at Brown, The Marsh Lecture at Shenandoah University, the Hanify-Howland lecture at Holy Cross, the Churchill lectures at George Washington University and Salisbury State University, and the Kelly-Weiss lecture at the University of Notre Dame. He serves on the International Board of Trustees of the Churchill Center. In the fall of 2002 he was a visiting fellow at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy Institute of Politics.
Matthews is the author of four best-selling books: Hardball (1988), Kennedy & Nixon (1996), Now, Let Me Tell You What I Really Think (2001), and most recently, American: Beyond our Grandest Notions (2002).
A graduate of Holy Cross, Matthews did graduate work in economics at the University of North Carolina and served for two years with the United States Peace Corps in the southern African nation of Swaziland.
Matthews is married to Kathleen Matthews, an award-winning news anchor for the ABC News affiliate in Washington. They have three children: Michael, Thomas, and Caroline.
About Greg Crister
Greg Critser is a longtime chronicler of the modern food and pharmaceutical industries His columns on the subject have appeared as cover stories in Harper's, the Washington Monthly and Worth.
His newspaper columns on the politics of medicine appear in USA Today, where he is a member of the paper's board of contributors, and the LA Times Sunday 'Opinion' section, the London Times, the Guardian and the
Observer.
His essay for Harper's, 'Let Them Eat Fat,' was named one of the most important science articles of 2000, and was included in 'Best American Science Writing 2001,,,,,' (HarperCollins). He is the author of the newly published Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World,,,,, (Houghton -Mifflin), which the American Diabetes Association called 'the definitive journalistic account of the modern obesity epidemic.'
He holds a BA degree from Occidental College and an MA from UCLA. He is a frequent guest on National Public Radio. He lives in Pasadena, California with his wife, Antoinette Mongelli. His next book, One Nation, Under Pills, will be published in 2005 by Houghton Mifflin.
About Melissa Johnson
Melissa Johnson, appointed by President George W. Bush as Executive Director of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, is a nationally recognized leader in physical activity, fitness and health promotion. As Executive Director, she manages the activities and operations of the Washington, D.C. based Council, an advisory committee to the President and the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The Council supports the President's Healthier US and HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson's Steps to a Healthier US, initiatives designed to build a strong nation of healthy Americans through regular physical activity, sound nutrition, prevention, and avoidance of risky behaviors. Ms. Johnson works with Council Chair Lynn Swann, Vice Chair Dorothy 'Dot' Richardson, and 17other appointed Council members to recommend programs and strategies to Americans of all ages, backgrounds and abilities to be physically active every day.
Ms. Johnson's more than twenty years of leadership experience include Executive Director of the California Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports (1997-2002), which was formed by Governor Pete Wilson and chaired by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Governor's Council promotes healthy lifestyles to Californians of all ages and abilities with a focus on older adults, youth, physically challenged, and the corporate sector. Ms. Johnson managed all operations, programs, corporate partnerships, new developments, fundraising, budgeting, public relations, promotions, marketing, events, strategic planning, and board activities. She also served as vice president and western regional chair of the National Association of Health and Fitness, formerly the National Association of Governor's Councils on Physical Fitness and Sports, and chaired their 2001 national conference.
From 1992-1997, Ms. Johnson was Director of Operations for National Fitness Leaders Association (NFLA), a national not-for-profit organization formerly based in Washington, D.C. She coordinated and directed NFLA's Healthy American Fitness Leaders Awards program, in partnership with the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. Ms. Johnson also worked in corporate health promotion, designed wellness programs, and served as spokesperson for a variety of fundraising events for the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society.
A native of Newport Beach, California, Ms. Johnson has a Masters of Science degree in Health/Fitness Management from American University in Washington, DC, where she taught as an adjunct professor, and a B.S. degree in Kinesiology from UCLA. Formerly a competitive gymnast, she leads an active lifestyle as an avid dancer, weight trainer, cross trainer, and yoga enthusiast.
About IHRSA
The International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) is a nonprofit association dedicated to the growth, protection, and promotion of the health club industry, and represents more than 6,500 clubs worldwide. IHRSA is an international leader in health
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