Wellhub appoints UK&I head as part of growth plans 

Wellhub has appointed Miguel de Apellaniz as head of UK and Ireland as the corporate wellbeing platform looks to expand its presence among employers across the region.

De Apellaniz has been with Wellhub since 2018 and will lead enterprise growth in the UK and Ireland, with responsibility for expanding the company’s corporate client base and strengthening existing employer relationships.

His appointment comes as workplace-funded access to fitness and wider wellbeing services continues to grow, emphasising the role employers could play in improving access to preventative health support.

Wellhub connects employees with fitness, mindfulness, nutrition and sleep services through a single subscription and works with nearly 50,000 corporate clients across 18 countries, with a network of more than 100,000 wellbeing partners.

De Apellaniz previously held responsibility for Wellhub’s operations across Mexico, Argentina and Chile. The company’s Latin American business grew by 25 per cent between 2020 and 2026 under his leadership.

He also brings experience from the fitness sector, having co-founded subscription-based fitness and wellness platform SinRutina in 2014. The business offered access to gyms and fitness classes across Argentina, Chile and Uruguay before being acquired by Gympass, now Wellhub, in 2018.

De Apellaniz said: “We are at a turning point in the UK and Ireland, where enterprise leaders realise that supporting employee wellbeing isn’t just a ‘nice-to-have’ benefit, it’s a key driver of retaining top talent.

“In comparison to LATAM, the UK is a significantly more mature market in both corporate wellbeing investment and gym participation. There is a prime opportunity to modernise established approaches and optimise existing processes, and my focus is clear: to help more UK employers perceive wellbeing as core infrastructure, not an afterthought.”

The appointment follows a period in which Wellhub has increasingly argued that workplace wellbeing should move beyond simply giving employees access to benefits towards embedding health into how organisations operate.

Earlier this year, Eamon Lloyd, Wellhub’s VP and head of Europe partnerships, told The Well Crowd that 60 per cent of its members had not engaged with wellbeing before joining the platform and 67 per cent did not previously have a gym membership.

He argued employer-funded access was therefore reaching people who had previously been outside the traditional fitness market, rather than simply moving existing gym users between membership models.

De Apellaniz’s appointment comes at a time when participation in fitness is rising and employers are increasingly being positioned as a route into health and wellbeing services.

The UK Active Health and Fitness Market Report 2026 found 18 per cent of the UK population now holds a gym membership, while visits to health and fitness facilities increased by 10 per cent.

Previous Wellhub research also points to the potential influence of the workplace on participation. Its State of Work-Life Wellness 2026 found 48 per cent of Wellhub members incorporated wellbeing activities into their working day every day, compared with 20 per cent of people without access to a platform.

It also found 73 per cent of UK employees said their financial situation made it difficult to invest in their health, while 62 per cent of Wellhub members considered wellness affordable compared with 38 per cent of non-members.

The figures add to a wider debate within workplace health and wellbeing about whether employer-funded provision can help remove some of the financial and practical barriers preventing people from engaging with preventative health services.