Former Hertsmere Leisure chief executive Phil Collins has joined leisure safety and quality management specialist Right Directions as its Business Development Director.

Collins has worked in the leisure industry for more than 40 years, with 10 of those at the Hertsmere Leisure, where he expanded the leisure trust to create a business with an £18m turnover employing more than 1,000 staff.

His role at Right Directions, which delivers Sport England’s quality assurance scheme Quest, as well as the Fitness Industry Association’s Code of Practice, will see him working with local authorities, contractors and trusts, as well as private sector clubs, to encourage adoption of these nationally recognised standards.

Right Directions has grown organically through word of mouth during the last eight years, and Collins will also help to develop the Right Directions portfolio and support this steady growth.

Collins, who holds a Masters Degree in Total Quality Management, was part of the team that first introduced Quest in the mid 1990s and led the first multi-site registration of the internationally recognized ISO9001 quality management mark, when he was working in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

He said: “I have been a lifelong advocate of the benefits of providing a high quality, continuously improving service and so the role at Right Directions is a great opportunity for me. We have extensive plans for the next 12 months and I am excited about the direction of the business and the fresh challenge that it will offer me.”

An industry veteran, Collins has played a prominent role within leisure, being the former National President of the Institute of Sport and Recreation Management (ISRM) and Chairman of the former National Training Organisation, SPRITO.