Allison Grover and David Mansbach join WITS Board of Directors

By: Melissa Neubart

This summer, we had the pleasure of welcoming two new members to our Board of Directors, Allison Grover and David Mansbach. Both bring unique passions and experiences in the health and hospitality industries. We are excited for their fresh perspectives – we think you will agree!

Allison Grover is a former Wall Streeter, mom of four, and advisor to and investor in several early stage fitness and wellness companies.  Allison stepped away from her finance career to stay home with her small kids for two years. Instead of finance, she went back to work for the children’s wear and athleisure brand, Terez, where she served as president and brand strategist for two years. It was through this role at Terez that Allison was really able to develop her relationships in the fitness world beyond the recreational status she already had.   

After leaving Terez, Allison continued to cultivate her relationships and participation in the fitness world, and one thing became very clear to her – that though there was an explosion in terms of the fitness options and level of accessibility for her, optionality and accessibility did not extend to the underserved neighborhoods of New York City. Mending that disparity became a passion of Allison’s.  And as luck would have it, she was discussing this passion with a friend two years ago, and this friend said, “You must meet Nancy Easton” – and the rest is happy history.

Allison can’t wait to dig in further with WITS, and hopefully bring some value to the table. 

We also have the pleasure of welcoming David Mansach. David is a founding partner at AETHOS Consulting, a global advisory firm serving the hospitality industry. David has a very interesting story of how he found himself in this field. In college, David pursued accounting as it was the only way his father would pay for his education. By pure luck, he found his career path when he landed his first job in the accounting department at The Plaza in New York City. After the first 8 years on the operations side of the hotel business, his experiences led him into his current role at AETHOS. He says that he’s lucky to have had a mentor since his time at The Plaza, and feels passionate about coaching and helping people navigate their way through their field of work.  “It’s what I do,” he says, “we have an obligation to help the younger generation.”

David constantly tells his children, “Find your passion and you’ll never work a day in your life.”  He advises people not to worry about the pay, but more so to focus on finding a mentor within the first three years of your career to build a foundation. It’s also very important not to compare yourself to your friends. These are his rules of the road: “If you’re on that journey, you’ll be able to find your passion.” 

David heard about Wellness in the Schools from WITS Board of Director’s President Nick Marsh, CEO of Chop’t. David decided to become a Board Member after seeing WITS Executive Director and Founder Nancy Easton’s passion for what she is doing. “You don’t see that kind of passion in many people like you do with Nancy.” David wants to help be a part of this movement to revolutionize school food. 

We’re excited to have Allison and David support WITS’ growth in years to come.