When Howard alumnus Chequan Lewis (B.A.’05) walked off the graduation stage beaming at all he’d accomplished during his four years on campus – a Mister Howard title, a student government role, Alpha Phi Alpha membership, and a flawless GPA – he had one main goal in his purview: running the country. 

Lewis may not be leading the country, not yet at least. But he is leading elsewhere as the new CEO of the international gym chain Crunch Fitness, which has headquarters in New York City and 550 locations around the United States including Puerto Rico and beyond, with clubs in Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, India, Portugal, and Spain. The club serves four million members worldwide. 

“I never thought I would be a CEO. I thought I was going to be president of the United States. That’s what I was really convicted around,” said Lewis, who arrived at Crunch Fitness in 2024 as its president before his recent promotion to CEO. 

Lewis possesses an unwavering and unafraid nature when it comes to his goals. He refuses to place a cap on how big his dreams are allowed to grow, something he said he learned as an undergraduate at Howard, where he studied political science and economics in the College of Arts and Sciences. 

“The funny thing is,” said Lewis, “I just finished with a talk where I was telling some younger people to leave room in the imagination — be it the divine if you’re a faith-based person, or otherwise. Leave room in your imagination for your journey to take you places you didn’t expect. I was always aiming high, but I didn’t have the language, the access to believe that I could have this role in business. I’m from arts and sciences, and that wasn’t in my framework at all.” 

Lewis added: “But I’ve been so excited about the way this has unfolded. I look back and Howard got me ready for this moment. We can come out of Howard and do anything. That’s the real story for me.” 

Fired Up for the Future 

Lewis called his latest appointment “an exciting next step in my leadership journey. Since I left Howard, I’ve had a really unique career path unfold, and watching it culminate in this moment is exciting. As CEO, there is a different level of responsibility, a different level of conviction, and a different level of vision casting. I’m ready to embrace that. I’m fired up for the future and excited to have the mantle in this way.” 

As CEO, Lewis leads Crunch Fitness overseeing day-to-day operations, member experience, branding and marketing, innovation, franchise success, and global growth. His vision for Crunch , which employs 1,661 employees, is for it to be the most consequential brand in fitness. 

Lewis said when he talks about being a consequential brand in fitness, he isn’t necessarily talking about raw numbers. 

“I have a real sense of how much more we’ll be able to grow. We’ll be at 630 clubs by the end of the year. It’ll be 1,000 and 2,000 before you know it. And the revenue is going to continue to climb into the billions. But what I’m really excited about is being a consequential brand. And what that means for us is a brand that walks with people during their most important moments in life, that connects people with the best version of themselves. It’s a brand where every club is a pathway to greater possibilities for the folks that work there and the folks that work out there. That’s the vision we’re called into.” 

Before serving as president of Crunch, Lewis helped lead one of the company’s most successful growth periods, helping expand the company into a $1.5 billion systemwide enterprise. 

Lewis doesn’t believe his success at Crunch would have happened without his time at Howard, though he said reverse engineering is difficult. 

“The leader I am today was formed primarily through my family, through my faith and through Howard University. As much as I love Harvard,” said Lewis, who graduated from Harvard Law School, “and I’m not trying to disparage Harvard, but for people to understand my story you have to go through Howard.” 

Lewis explained his sense of distinct possibilities was expanded thanks to Howard, along with strengthening his ability to face the various challenges that came with his studies, such as what his professors demanded of him. He also learned to connect more deeply with himself, his culture, and legacy while at the university. 

“All of those things were indispensable as I went and took the next steps out of Howard,” said Lewis. “There’s not a day I don’t go back to something I learned, a connection made, a belief that was formed by my time at Howard. I can say Howard is the essential institution in my story.” 

A Legendary Callback 

During Lewis’ undergraduate years, he sometimes found himself in the university’s School of Business hanging out with a fraternity brother in the school. Lewis noticed portraits of famous CEOs and business leaders in the main lobby on the Executive Lecture Series wall, and he’d say to himself he’d love to have the opportunity to hear them speak, even though he wasn’t interested in business himself at the time. 

Lewis would return to Howard’s campus in 2024 to deliver a lecture as part of the Executive Lecture Series. His lecture was titled “Legendary: Powered by Legacy.” Coming back home for the lecture was a no-brainer for Lewis considering all that Howard represents to him. 

“I’m not an overly sensitive cat, but Howard means everything to me. It’s at the core of my story,” said Lewis. “It was like a full circle moment that meant a ton to me. When I’m asked, I’m always going to run home to Howard. When I got there and started to share those things with students, I reminded myself that it wasn’t long ago I was sitting right there. I take the idea of legacy very seriously. It’s not just what you were handed — it's what you are handing on. It was one of those moments where I felt the fullness of stepping into that legacy.” 

Lewis is on many stages giving countless speeches, but “being in that little room with those students who were walking where I walked, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. It was a game changer for me.” 

Prior to Crunch , Lewis was chief operating officer for Pizza Hut U.S., leading operations. He also served as the company’s first chief equity officer, leading enterprise-wide initiatives focused on culture, talent, and community impact. Lewis started his professional career in business management at McMaster-Carr Supply Company.  

Lewis, a former Presidential Leadership Scholar, is committed to developing the next generation of leaders. Lewis offered several tips to current Howard students eyeing a prosperous future in business and leadership, starting with giving yourself permission to dream. He also said to never forget there is no substitute for substance; always be your authentic self, humble and intentional; expect results once you’re driving the outcome; and strive to be even bigger than he is. 

A Tug Towards Howard 

Lewis said enrolling in Howard was his “zigging where everyone else zagged.” He saw college pressure coming from two corners – family forces and external forces. Lewis comes from an HBCU family that was largely rooted at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi, where his parents met. 

“My whole family wanted me to go there, but I felt a tug towards Howard for a couple of reasons. One, I wanted to be in D.C. because of politics. Two, I really felt called to the legacy of Howard. When you think of Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall , Andrew Young, Donny Hathaway, I felt called to be a part of that. Every time I dreamt about who I wanted to be, Howard seemed like the throughline for that,” said Lewis, who pointed out his parents supported his decision to go to Howard, to the chagrin of other family members. 

Lewis, a top student at Haltom High School in Haltom City, Texas, was questioned why he wanted to attend Howard when he could attend Harvard University, considering he was among those at the top of his class. He figured “‘I’ll get to that later. I’m going to go here now to connect with the best version of myself.’ As I look back on it, I was 17 when I made that choice. It was such an important choice and I’m grateful I somehow stumbled upon the conviction to walk that way because I know my life would have been different if I hadn’t.”