The Advance Audio Visual Sales contenders

Team: Advanced Audio Visual Sales, Inc.
Location: West Chester
Trainer: Justin Spies

Total team starting weight: 2,127.5 pounds

Team captain: Colleen Leskowich, sales coordinator
Teammates:
• Maureen Gochenauer, purchasing manager
• Dennis Krebs, IT support specialist
• Christa Bender, contract sales coordinator
• Eric Bixler, account executive
• Mary Anne Wallace, financial administrator
• Heather Hoopes, senior accountant
• Kevin McGinniss, systems designer
• Dennis Melahn, IT director
• Patricia Launhardt, administrative coordinator

Why they entered the contest:

It is my extreme pleasure and great honor to introduce the ten ladies and gentlemen who proudly represent Advanced Audio Visual Systems, Inc., a concept to completion audio visual design firm based in West Chester, Pennsylvania. We are a diverse group of coworkers representing various backgrounds and are a terrific cross-sample of our employees. Regardless of our individual motivations, we share a common goal: to improve our overall health by competing in the Be Well Philly Office Challenge.

That said, here is some more detailed information about each of our team members. I’ll lead off with the team captain, Colleen Leskowich. She is a former collegiate swimmer who competes regularly in events such as community runs, walks, swimming contests and even an annual triathlon. While she maintains this active lifestyle and spends the equivalent of a small fortune on health food, she somehow remains “the overweight athlete” who considers herself healthy but realizes that she has plenty of room for improvement and plenty of pounds to spare. As someone who now only refers to herself as “forty-something,” she not only sees youth in her rearview mirror but also a heart attack that occurred in her mid thirties. As she focuses on the road ahead she would like to do so with a renewed commitment to improving her health and her enjoyment of the years that lie ahead with her husband.

Next up is Maureen Gochenauer, a married mother of one who is staring down the barrel of the big four-o and doing her best to balance the challenges of being a working mom and wife. She is a cancer survivor who managed to battle through a series of surgeries and treatments and now wants to continue to improve her overall health not only for the obvious benefits but also because she believes a healthier lifestyle will help her remain cancer-free. She has watched as several of her older relatives have fallen ill to a series of hereditary diseases, and believes that dedicating herself to these goals will not only benefit her but her entire family.

Then there’s Eric Bixler, our top salesman. His four children, loving wife and loyal customers hardly leave enough time for this modern day Dagwood to read the paper let alone prepare and execute a workout regiment. While you wouldn’t know it by his child-bearing wide hips, he didn’t actually give birth to his children. Of course, the hours sitting behind the wheel squiring them about Chester County from one event to another are not having a positive effect on his backside or his spare tire. Sure, his wife prepares healthy meals and snacks, and he hears all about them when he gets home from work; Home Depot hot dogs, Starbucks coffee and Clark Bars are the foundation for his food pyramid—but his foundation is starting to crumble. He realizes that he owes his children a better example of healthy living, and he wants to be around with them for a long time to come. He hopes the support of his teammates and coworkers will help him meet and maintain his goals.

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