By Thomas Heath
Monday, May 5, 2008
Staff writer Thomas Heath's "Value Added" column appears Tuesdays on the WashBiz blog. Most weeks, it profiles local entrepreneurs, discussing how they make money and what they do with it.
Gary Henkin's immersion into the business side of the fitness craze reminds me of the advice one of my former editors, Doug Feaver, once gave me. Feaver, who was one of the kinder and smarter editors I was privileged to work for, said if I wanted to be an effective reporter, I ought to find a vacuum and fill it.
Henkin took the same approach in business.
If you play tennis at a country club or public facility in the Washington region, or you've had a facial at someplace like the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia or at K. Hovnanian Four Seasons at Historic Virginia, chances are you have put some cash in Henkin's pocket.
Henkin, 63, is founder and president of WTS International, a Rockville company that designs and runs spas and tennis and fitness centers throughout the country.
WTS has around 2,000 employees, with 50 or so based in Montgomery County. The company generates tens of millions of dollars in annual revenue, and it has made Henkin and his wife, Annette, who is a vice president, very comfortable.
Henkin is a rare Washington species: a District native. He attended Calvin Coolidge High School and the University of Maryland. He was a popular tennis instructor, working at places like Wheaton Regional Park and Shirley Racquet Club, when his business eye noticed things weren't quite right.
"I felt there was really not a logical approach to managing a tennis complex," he said. "It was very much hit and miss. And very much dependent upon whomever it was who was in the role of tennis director. . . . There was really not a businesslike approach to managing tennis facilities."
Henkin wrote the first operating manual on how to run a tennis club. He couldn't have timed it more beautifully. Tennis was taking off in the 1960s and 1970s, and so was the fitness craze.
He incorporated Washington Tennis Services in 1973.
"It turned out to be the right time and the right kind of service, and it grew pretty rapidly," he said.
His first big break came when he was hired to run the tennis grounds at Oakmont Country Club near Pittsburgh, site of several U.S. Open golf tournaments. Word spread, and Washington Tennis was soon running other tennis courts and pro shops across the country.
This was the business: Henkin would sign a contract with a hotel, country club or resort to operate its tennis facility. He made money nearly every year, but sometimes it was tough.
In the 1980s, Washington Tennis expanded to include health and fitness facilities, providing personnel, promotion and management to health centers typically associated with office buildings, residential development, private clubs and hotels.
"We took the tennis business model and tweaked it or massaged it to fit the fitness facility scenario and that business started to take off," Henkin said.
No longer limited to tennis, the company was renamed WTS International and now has offices in Los Angeles and Dubai.
Henkin said he has sunk most of his profit back into WTS, which he and his wife own outright.
I asked whether he was looking to sell and earn a big payday.
"We have had people approach us, particularly over the past few years. So far, I'm still having a whole lot of fun. I am very happy right now. If you had to describe me, it would be as a very hard-working entrepreneur."
An entrepreneur who has found his niche.
View all comments that have been posted about this article.