DSA Hall of Famer and DSEF Circle of Honor Awardee Robert H. King Passes Away
Robert H. King
Industry icon Robert H. King passed away the last week of June at his home in Eustis, Fla. He was 90.
With an extensive and successful career in direct sales, King served as Chairman of the Board and CEO of World Book, as President of Time-Life Libraries and as Vice President of Sales for Encyclopedia Britannica Inc.
King served as Chairman of the DSA Board of Directors for two terms, in 1977 and 1978. He was also inducted into DSA’s Hall of Fame in 1980 and received DSEF’s Circle of Honor award in 1992.
After helping to establish the Direct Selling Education Foundation (DSEF) and serving the foundation for 30 years as Chairman, Treasurer, Development Committee Chairman and member of its Board of Directors, the Robert H. King Board of Directors Chair was created for him as a lifetime seat with full voting privileges.
King also led the formation of the World Federation of Direct Selling Associations (WFDSA) and served as the founding Chairman of the organization from 1978 to 1984. He later received the WFDSA Lifetime Achievement Award.
King was a consultant to numerous companies and mentored many individuals in the industry.
Nature’s Sunshine Products
Gregory L. Probert
Nature’s Sunshine announced the appointment of Gregory L. Probert as Executive Vice Chairman and member of the Board of Directors, where he will serve as a Class II Director. Probert has extensive direct selling experience, as well as marketing and operational experience in consumer-oriented businesses.
Probert served as a consultant in the direct selling industry since May 2008, including consulting with Nature’s Sunshine since October 2010. At Nature’s Sunshine, he focused on the U.S. Sales division. Prior to his consulting work, Probert was the Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO for Penta Water Company and held executive positions within the direct selling industry. Prior to working in direct selling, he was the CEO of DMX Music, held significant management positions at iMovieStudio and PlanetLingo and served in various positions at The Walt Disney Co., including Executive Vice President of Worldwide Home Entertainment.
Mannatech Inc.
Alfredo Bala
Tait Switzer
Ronald Norman
Mark Nicholls
Brett Duncan
Mannatech recently announced promotions to its executive sales, marketing and operations teams.
Alfredo Bala was promoted to Executive Vice President of Sales. Bala joined Mannatech in 2007, and previously had held the post of Senior Vice President of Global Sales. In his new position, Bala will assume primary responsibility for Mannatech’s sales activity in North America.
Ronald Norman was promoted to Senior Vice President of International. Norman joined Mannatech in 1996. He has been instrumental in opening each of the 16 international markets in which Mannatech operates. Norman has a background in tax and accounting and is a CPA.
Brett Duncan was promoted to Vice President of Marketing. Duncan joined Mannatech in 2009 and has led all online marketing initiatives for the company since then. He has been in the direct selling industry since 2002.
Tait Switzer was promoted to Vice President of Research and Development of Technical Services. Switzer most recently was Senior Director of Product Development for Mannatech, serving with the company in increasingly responsible positions since 2002.
Mannatech also announced that Mark Nicholls was named Vice President, Treasury and Tax by the Mannatech Board. Nicholls joined the company in 2007 as Senior Manager of Tax.
Herbalife
Jose Reinhart
Roman Malkov
Dr. Banu Cayci
Herbalife Ltd. has announced that medical experts from Ecuador, Russia and Turkey have joined its Nutrition Advisory Board.
The Nutrition Advisory Board comprises leading experts around the world in the fields of nutrition and health who educate and train Herbalife independent distributors, and in China, sales employees, on the principles of nutrition, physical activity and healthy lifestyle.
Jose Reinhart, M.D., from Ecuador, has practiced sports medicine for over 40 years at the Hospital del Valle and Hospital Metropolitano de Quito. His expertise combines sports medicine with nutrition, helping athletes to perform their best and to use nutrition for a competitive edge.
Roman Malkov, M.D., also specializes in sports medicine, treating patients and conducting research to improve athletes’ performance at the Anokhin Institute of Normal Physiology in Moscow. He is the author of three nutrition books and is a contributing writer to Men’s Health, Russia.
Dr. Banu Cayci’s research has focused on the relationship between obesity, exercise, antioxidants and disease. She is an associate professor at the School of Medicine and the hospital at Gazi University, where she has instructed since 1995. Cayci has authored over 100 research articles in international journals.
Phototron Holdings Inc.
Douglas Braun
Phototron Holdings Inc., the designer, manufacturer and seller of the PHOTOTRON Hydroponic Indoor Grow Systems, has announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Douglas Braun as Chief Executive Officer. Braun will also serve as President and CEO of GrowLife Inc., the wholly owned direct selling hydroponic gardening subsidiary of Phototron Holdings.
Prior to joining Phototron and GrowLife, Braun served as President of a leading direct seller of wellness home technologies. Previously he held numerous executive marketing positions in the industry.
Kara Knell has been appointed Chief Operating Officer of GrowLife Inc. Knell previously owned and operated two companies, providing merchant processing services and consulting services in sales and operations.
4Life
Rafael Fernandez
4Life has announced the promotion of Rafael Fernandez to Vice President, Europe.
Previously, Fernandez spent more than three years as the General Manager of 4Life operations in Spain and Portugal.
Fernandez brings more than 20 years of experience in direct selling to his new assignment, which includes oversight of Spain and Portugal along with Germany, England, Eastern European countries and developing markets throughout the European Union.
Fernandez will work with the 4Life executive team on strategic objectives for the continent as well as methods to support field leaders who conduct business in Europe from other parts of the world. He will headquarter in Barcelona and work closely with the staff in Spain and Daniel Taylor, International Director Europe.
Zurvita
Allen Rejonis
Zurvita has announced the promotion of Allen Rejonis to Vice President of its new Commercial Division, featuring Zurvita’s ZLinked business program, which focuses on the online advertising and search directory services market.
Rejonis joined Zurvita in January 2008, serving most recently as Director of Operations. Prior to joining the company, Rejonis worked in marketing for insurance, primarily in life and health products and essential consumer services. Prior to that, he worked at The Walt Disney Co. for 19 years in both Florida and California in a variety of leadership roles in both the Operations and Human Resources departments. In his new role, Rejonis will report directly to Jay Shafer, Zurvita’s Co-CEO.
North American Power
John Costino
Bradley J. Tayles
North American Power announced that John Costino has joined the company as Vice President of Sales and Training. During the past 17 years, he has trained more than 750,000 individuals to run home-based businesses as a national sales trainer for multiple companies. In his role at North American Power, Costino will work to educate the team of independent sales representatives on the opportunities that exist within the energy industry.
Bradley J. Tayles joined the company as Vice President of Operations. He has over two decades of network marketing experience, including executive operations positions.
GeneLink Inc.
John A. Webb
Maggie Palazzolo
Stephanie May Heinrich
GeneLink Inc. has appointed John A. Webb, CPA, as Chief Financial Officer. Webb has served as the Director of Finance/Controller of GeneLink Inc. since 2008. He has over 25 years of experience in corporate and entrepreneurial financial management, both as a CPA and financial executive.
GeneLink also expanded its Scientific Advisory Board by appointing two new members, Maggie Palazzolo, M.S., and Stephanie May Heinrich. Palazzolo is a clinical validation protocol expert and currently Project Manager, Informatics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
Heinrich is a genomicist and currently a researcher with the Faculty of Medicine at the Institute for Human Genetics at Justus-Liebig University in Giessen, Germany. Heinrich is expected to join GeneLink’s corporate team later this year.
The company’s Scientific Advisory Board consists of experts in the fields of genetics, genomic research, medicine, pediatrics, nutrition, public health, neuroscience, clinical laboratory medicine, nuclear medicine and imaging, and quality assurance.
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