CEO and UF Alumna Speaks on The Importance of Family Health

On Wednesday April 22, The University of Findlay welcomes Amber (Brenamen) Thiel, international speaker on the importance of living a healthy lifestyle and alumna from the class of 2000. CEO and co-founder of The Healthy Edge, Thiel will speak at noon in Winebrenner Theological Seminary. This event is free and open to the community.

While still a student at UF, Thiel founded Beyond Physical Fitness Camps in 1998. With a small staff, Thiel and her team would travel to high schools and junior highs around Ohio directing volleyball camps that would not only address physical training but also the mental aspects of sports performance.
Thiel graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2000 with a Bachelor of Science from The University of Findlay. She was the starting setter for the volleyball team, as well as the team captain, Academic All-American, Coco-Cola Scholar Athlete, President’s Senior Scholar Award winner, All-Conference Honors recipient and the most valuable player during her senior year.
After graduation, she became the graduate assistant for the men and women’s volleyball teams at the University. After two years, she went on to become a teacher for Findlay High School from 2002 to 2005 where she taught biology and other sciences while acting as the head volleyball coach. During her time as coach, she mentored more than 10 athletes who received Division I and II volleyball scholarships for college. She was able to transform the volleyball program into a state contender, winning two conference championships. Thiel was also honored twice as the Conference Coach of the Year and District Coach of the Year. She received the Ohio High School Volleyball Coaches Association Coaches Achievement Award.
Theil returned to The University of Findlay in 2005 where she was the assistant volleyball coach and taught Anatomy and Physiology and Health and Wellness. Soon after, she moved to Seattle, Washington where she became a certified personal trainer. Many of her clients wanted to know more about how else they could improve their family’s health. This motivated Thiel and her husband, Brian, to create The Healthy Edge.
This passion for educating and supporting others with their health first began after her mother died at the age of 45 due to breast cancer. This experience sparked the fire in her to encourage others to establish their own standards of physical and emotional health.
The Healthy Edge empowers people to be accountable and support one another, focusing not only on personal fitness and health, but also on the entire family’s wellbeing. By providing an intensive health coach certification program, over 400 coaches have been trained to support people and their families throughout the United States and Canada. Programs are offered one-on-one, in small groups, or self-directed online.
The event is hosted by the University of Findlay’s Generation Orange and the Senior Class Gift committees as part of the Concert and Lecture Series. A reception will take place before the event beginning at 11:30 a.m. Following the event Thiel will sign copies of The Healthy Edge Cookbook: Your Easy and Delicious Guide to Live By.