Arbonne International

Michael D’Arminio

Arbonne International LLC announced the appointment of Michael D’Arminio as Chief Creative Officer. D’Arminio, who was most recently Chief Creative Officer at philosophy, will lead the creative, marketing and product development teams.

With more than 18 years of experience as a skincare marketing executive, D’Arminio began his career in global advertising and worked at Ogilvy and Mather and Donna Karan International. More recently, he was Vice President of Global Marketing and Creative for Unilever Cosmetics International, Coty Prestige and L’Oreal.

Founded in Switzerland in 1975 and now headquartered in Irvine, Calif., Arbonne International LLC creates personal-care and wellness products that are crafted with premium botanical ingredients and innovative scientific discovery. Arbonne products are available at arbonne.com or through an extensive network of Arbonne independent consultants in the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.

---

Herbalife Ltd.

Florisa Barquera

Herbalife Ltd. announced the appointment of Florisa Barquera, M.D., an expert in nutrition and the issues related to obesity and nutritional disorders, to its Nutrition Advisory Board.

The Nutrition Advisory Board is comprised of experts from around the world in the fields of nutrition and health who inform, educate and train Herbalife independent distributors on the principles of nutrition, physical activity and healthy lifestyle.

Barquera is a member of the Mexican Academy for Obesity and has collaborated in several studies conducted by the Instituto Nacional de Salud Publica into the impact of poor nutrition on the population of Mexico. She is also a member of the Academic Development Committee at Universidad Anáhuac, Mexico City. She has authored and co-authored a number of articles and books on the subject of obesity and is regularly used by the media to provide comment on, and insight to, the nutrition situation in Mexico.

Herbalife Ltd. is a global nutrition company that sells weight-management, nutritional and personal-care products intended to support a healthy lifestyle. Herbalife products are sold in more than 80 countries to and through a network of 2.7 million independent distributors.

---

LifeVantage Corp.

Dr. Darlene R. Walley

LifeVantage Corp., a leader in Nrf2 science and the maker of Protandim®, the Nrf2 Synergizer® patented dietary supplement, announced Darlene R. Walley, Ph.D., will serve as the company’s new Chief Science Officer.

Dr. Walley will directly oversee the expansion of the company’s research and development as it seeks to expand its offering of scientifically validated research-backed products. Prior to joining LifeVantage, Dr. Walley was Founder and President of DRW Consulting, a firm specializing in assisting large and small companies in bringing new products to market. Her clients spanned the nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. In addition, Dr. Walley has led research and development teams at Procter & Gamble, as Senior Director of Research and Development at Church & Dwight, and as Vice President of Research and Development at Gillette.

In connection with Dr. Walley’s appointment, the company also announced that Dr. Joe McCord will continue to work with the company to champion third-party peer-reviewed studies of the company’s flagship product Protandim and to educate independent distributors on the advancement of Nrf2 science. Dr. McCord will remain a key member of the company’s Scientific Advisory Board, which will be led by Dr. Walley.

LifeVantage Corp., a science based nutraceutical company, is dedicated to visionary science that looks to transform wellness and anti-aging internally and externally with products that dramatically reduce oxidative stress at the cellular level. The company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City.

---

Neways

Chris Crump

Neways announced the appointment of Chris Crump as the company’s new Chief Administrative Officer. With this change, all back-office functions within Neways report directly to Crump, including legal, regulatory, human resources, quality, operations and information technology.

As CAO, Crump will review and develop companywide administrative policies, negotiate new and existing contracts, and help communicate Neways’ strategic development plans to key stakeholders. Prior to this appointment, Crump was serving Neways as Vice President, General Counsel.

Founded in 1987, Neways is a company that sells safe, effective nutritional and personal-care products through 300,000 Neways distributors in 30 countries.

---

Tastefully Simple

Sue Rusch

Tastefully Simple announced that Sue Rusch has joined the company as the Senior Director of Executive Development. In this role, Rusch will coach and develop top-level independent consultants, lead the coaching team and serve as an advisor to Tastefully Simple’s vision team.

Rusch has over 25 years of direct sales experience. Early in her career, she developed and led a $19 million direct sales team. Rusch was the Vice President/General Manager for Big Yellow Box by Crayola®, and most recently a speaker, consultant, coach and author through Sue Rusch and Associates LLC. She’s earned the National Speaker’s Association’s highest designation, Certified Speaking Professional, and served the National Speakers Association Minnesota as former president and member of the board of directors.

Tastefully Simple is a national home tasting party company featuring easy-to-prepare foods and gifts. The company’s unique, high-quality products are offered through independent business consultants across the United States.

---

ViSalus

ViSalus announced that Internet entrepreneur Rich Riley was elected to its board of directors. Riley joins the ViSalus board with over 13 years of experience at Yahoo! Inc., where he was the Executive Vice President of the Americas Region. During his time at Yahoo!, Riley held several positions and was responsible for the successful turnaround of Europe when he managed the Europe/Middle East/Africa region, where he oversaw sales, marketing, editorial, content and business development. In 2006 he was a Yahoo! Superstar Award Winner, which is a global award given to the highest-performing Yahoo! employees.

Riley previously was the co-founder and managing member of an Internet startup company that developed and patented what is today the Yahoo! Toolbar and which was acquired by Yahoo! in 1999.

Riley currently serves on the Entrepreneurial Advisory Board at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated with a bachelor’s in economics. He is also a member of the Young Presidents Organization.

Founded in 2005 with headquarters in Los Angeles and Troy, Mich., ViSalus is the company behind the Body by Vi™ Challenge, a 90-day health transformation platform. ViSalus is majority-owned by Blyth Inc.

---

International Association of Working Mothers

Pat Davis

The International Association of Working Mothers (tiawm™) has appointed Pat Davis as the newest member of its board of directors. Davis is the President and Founder of Network Marketing Tutor Inc., based in Las Vegas, and formerly President and CEO of Passion Parties Inc.

Davis joins the tiawm™ board of directors at a time when working mothers represent one of the fastest-growing segments of the economy in business, executive leadership and economic power. Davis is a recognized expert in the direct sales industry. As President and CEO of Passion Parties, she was instrumental in a 12-times growth, reinvention and turnaround for the company.

The International Association of Working Mothers is a charitable, tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to making a significant difference in building and sustaining healthy communities by unlocking the potential of working mothers through advocacy and education.

The Economic Times (India) reported that Amway, India’s largest direct selling firm, has announced its intention of reaching a billion dollars in the Indian market by 2020. William Pinckney, Amway India’s Managing Director and CEO, said the company’s plans to build a manufacturing plant in India won’t displace the seven contract manufacturers currently in use. The production output of the contractors and the new plant will meet demand within India and also for Amway’s global operations. In addition to the new plant, Amway has plans to staff a new R&D center in India and will hire 25-30 research scientists.

Amway represents about 44 percent of the direct selling market in India, which is reportedly on track to grow 20 percent in 2012-2013. 

To read the full article in The Economic Times, click here.

Launched on Sept. 21, Solavei members are taking advantage of the only mobile phone service offering a $49 per month unlimited voice, text and data plan, along with the ability to earn recurring monthly income by signing up other members.

Rather than spending millions of dollars advertising to get its message out and using retail stores to distribute its services, Solavei, in strategic partnership with T-Mobile, relies on its members to share the service with their friends and family and directly compensates them for their efforts. The more than 65,000 members using Solavei’s contract-free mobile service are essentially serving as moving points of distribution, adding new customers by sharing through word-of-mouth and personal social media connections. “We created Solavei and our social commerce platform to give people the opportunity to earn income by sharing a service they are already using every day,” said Ryan Wuerch, Founder and CEO of Solavei. “With more than 300 million mobile phone subscribers in the U.S., it’s time to shift the billions of dollars the large wireless carriers spend on advertising to the greatest advertiser in the world—people.”

Members who choose to share the Solavei Mobile Service with others through its social commerce platform can use the money to offset their monthly bill and even have the opportunity to generate recurring monthly income. Solavei offers a highly efficient and scalable means to both consume and distribute mobile service.

For more information, go to www.Solavei.com.

Spearheaded by Vollara’s Chairman and CEO, Joe Urso, the company has introduced a new program called GTO, or Green Technology Open House, which is a high-touch, relational way to encourage personal communication and good stewardship through healthy living.

The Vollara business model has typically been a direct sales, person-to-person business. The introduction of GTO creates a home-based atmosphere similar to a party plan model, whereby independent business owners walk guests through a scripted demonstration of Vollara’s technology products in a real live setting where there is nothing to buy and nothing to join. The only request that is made is to become an Authorized Field Tester. A series of steps are given to the GTO attendee so they can put the technology through a 3-5-day workout. After this whole home cleansing, the company found that people have responded with strong interest in hosting a GTO or owning the technology.

Vice President of Sales and Health Science Troy Sanford says, “Our message is really resonating with the people who attend the GTO. They discover new ways to live healthier, greener lives. Having fun by ‘WOWing’ people with pure living products and earning great money is a recipe for viral success.”

More information on this new program and other Vollara programs and products can be found on their website at www.Vollara.com.

Besides running a growing direct sales company, USANA COO Roy Truett has something else to celebrate. ExecRank released their report of the Top 100 COOs in 2012 and Truett was honored as No. 19!

According to ExecRank, “COOs were ranked according to our patent-pending proprietary COO Ranking Algorithm that calculates points for 24 key categories, in addition to the insights and feedback from evaluation committees featuring some of the world’s most renowned business leaders. Like all of our position specific ranking algorithms, the COO Ranking Algorithm serves as an objective standard for executive performance and is designed to produce results that act as leading indicators for future executive and team performance.”

Truett said, “It is a tremendous honor to be featured among some of the top COOs in the country and I appreciate the opportunity to represent our profession (on ExecRank.com).”

The entire report with complete rankings can be found here.

---

Click here to order the Direct Selling News issue in which this article appeared.

---

You’ve likely seen a lot of political ads this election season, certainly with a lot of promises and probably with a lot of half-truths and misrepresentations, too. But for direct sellers, there is only one message that counts. Will this candidate understand and support the entrepreneurship, customer service, great products and opportunity that direct sellers bring to their communities and the country?

You know, of course, that we will be voting for a new president on Nov. 6; significantly, there are also 33 senators, 435 congressmen and many state legislators who will be up for election. These men and women will confront not only critical national and state issues like the federal budget and debt, security and terrorism, and foreign policy, but also matters of utmost importance to direct selling—taxation, independent contractor status, consumer protection matters, pyramid schemes, international trade, employment law, privacy, business opportunities and many more.

The Direct Selling Association (DSA) has a comprehensive strategy to ensure that these policymakers and lawmakers are aware of direct sellers, their interests and concerns. (For those of you who’d like the details of how the Association comprehensively advocates 365 days a year on behalf of direct sellers in Congress, state capitals, and city council halls, drop me a note.) But it is equally important that, as citizens and direct sellers, direct selling executives are aware of legislators who have demonstrated a knowledge of and support for direct sellers. Thus, we have published the first Direct Selling Association Voter’s Guide. This state-by-state breakdown of nearly 100 elected officials includes descriptions of the legislators, their districts, the substantive areas in which they have been involved with direct selling, as well as a general business assessment of the legislator’s record from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (of which DSA is a member).

We’ve considered a number of issues as we identified these candidates. Some of them include:

• Did the lawmaker support direct sellers in having the FTC amend the recently promulgated business opportunity rule?
• Has the lawmaker sponsored legislation supported by DSA?
• Has the lawmaker or candidate ever been a direct seller?
• Has the legislator been supportive of independent contractor status?
• Does the legislator or candidate have knowledge of or a relationship with a DSA member company?

Direct sellers can and should have an impact every Election Day. We estimate that there are as many as 40,000 individual direct sellers in each congressional district. Even a few of those direct seller votes could make the difference in determining who serves in Congress or in a state legislature and who does not. It is our hope that direct sellers will become a visible and appreciated force in each and every election, and that executives and individual direct sellers alike use the tools DSA is committed to providing to help voters make informed electoral choices every November.

Take a look at the DSA Voter’s Guide on our website at www.dsa.org and let us know what you think. If you have any questions or comments about the candidates or their positions on direct selling, please let us know. And please feel free to share any information you may have about specific candidates for future editions of the DSA Voter’s Guide.

---

Joseph N. Mariano is President of the U.S. Direct Selling Association.

Trivita Founder and CEO Michael Ellison with his wife, Susan.

In this month’s Executive Connection, Direct Selling News Publisher and Editor in Chief John Fleming speaks with Michael Ellison, CEO and Founder of TriVita, about leadership, staying mission focused and building a foundation that will sustain his company.

DSN: What is the one thing you enjoy most about being the CEO of TriVita?

ME: Building a mission-driven company and seeing that mission fulfilled in the lives of our customers. That’s my No. 1 passion and joy.

DSN: What has been your proudest accomplishment?

ME: Developing a business model that supports the mission by using the reach of media and the power of one to one. We call it cooperative marketing. I believe that is my proudest accomplishment. People told me you can’t do it. We knew it would be challenging to do, and we’ve done it. It has turned into our economic engine.

DSN: What do you tell TriVita’s distributors to lead and inspire them?

ME: I teach universal laws that empower them to believe in fulfilling their life purpose. I don’t believe in incentives, and I’m not big on just motivating people. I want them to have understanding and wisdom from universal laws. For example: the Law of Reciprocity. In our context it means that if you serve mankind with a product or service of value, then mankind will gladly compensate you for it.

DSN: What is your vision for TriVita?

ME: Seeing our mission fulfilled worldwide.

DSN: What are you most excited about as Amazon Herbs Company becomes part of TriVita?

ME: John Easterling and Olivia [Newton-John, his wife] have mutual missions, visions and values with us in TriVita. If that weren’t there, nothing else would matter. It would be challenging. That foundation makes everything possible.

DSN: Is there one basic principle which has governed your leadership at TriVita?

ME: Stay true to the reason we founded the company: the mission. Don’t allow dysfunctional leadership to develop in the corporate staff or the field, where they become more important than the mission.

DSN: What direct selling company or leader do you especially admire?

ME: I admire many company leaders that have mission-driven visions. Medifast, Amway and USANA are a few, but there are many.

DSN: In your years in business, what lesson have you learned that has proved to be especially useful?

ME: I’ve learned to stay true to the mission and constantly strive to do it better, rather than being distracted by the views and opinions and successes of others. By doing that, we’ve constantly improved TriVita.

DSN: What’s at the top of your “bucket list”?

ME: To embed the mission of TriVita deep within the corporate and field leadership so it will sustain the growth and profitability of TriVita for generations in the future. That’s what I’m focused on every single day.

ViSalus

Todd Goergen

Tyler P. Schuessler

ViSalus announced the appointment of Todd Goergen as Chief Strategy Officer. Goergen has served as Chairman of the ViSalus Board of Directors since Ropart Asset Management (RAM)—of which he is Managing Partner—provided the original investment capital for ViSalus in 2006.

Goergen has been Managing Partner of RAM, a private equity firm that invests directly in small to midsize companies, since 2001. He was an Analyst/Associate in Mergers and Acquisitions at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette from 1994 to 1999.

ViSalus also announced the appointment of Tyler P. Schuessler as Chief Administrative Officer. Schuessler will join ViSalus from her position as Vice President, Organizational Development and Investor Relations at Blyth Inc., where she reports to the Chairman and CEO and is a member of the Office of the Chairman.

Schuessler has worked at Blyth for the past 12 years with responsibility for global human resources, investor relations and corporate communications. She has supported ViSalus’ human resources function since Blyth entered into an agreement to acquire shares of ViSalus in 2008. Prior to this position Schuessler served at Blyth in roles of increasing responsibility since 2000.

Both Goergen and Schuessler are members of ViSalus’ senior executive team and report directly to Ryan Blair, Co-Founder and CEO of ViSalus.

Founded in 2005 with headquarters in Los Angeles and Troy, Mich., ViSalus is the company behind the Body by Vi™ Challenge, a 90-day health transformation platform. ViSalus is majority-owned by Blyth Inc.

---

Avon Products Inc.

Jeff Benjamin

Charles H. Noski

Avon Products Inc. announced the appointment of Jeff Benjamin as Senior Vice President and General Counsel. Benjamin will report to Sheri McCoy, Avon’s CEO, and join the company’s Executive Committee.

In a career spanning more than 40 years prior to his retirement from Novartis Corp. at year-end 2011, Benjamin developed expertise in litigation, corporate transactions, antitrust, environmental regulation, equal employment opportunity, product liability, and ethics and compliance. Throughout his career at Novartis (formerly known as Ciba-Geigy Corp.), Benjamin served in a variety of General Counseling positions.

Avon also announced that its board of directors has elected Charles H. Noski to the board, effective immediately. Noski’s election increases Avon’s board to 12 directors.

Noski served as Vice Chairman of Bank of America Corp. from June 2011 to September 2012, following his role as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of that company from May 2010 to June 2011. Prior to that, Noski served as Corporate Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Northrop Grumman Corp., as well as a director of that company.

Avon, the company for women, is a leading global beauty company, with over $11 billion in annual revenue. As the world’s largest direct seller, Avon markets to women in more than 100 countries through over 6 million active independent Avon Sales Representatives.

---

XANGO

XANGO LLC announced several new hires and promotions in line with expansion that has it now doing business in 42 countries.

Jason Pierce

Yoko Little

Brian Gallacher

Jina Anson

Jason Pierce has been named Vice President of International Development. Pierce has been with XANGO since 2004. After spending the past two years working closely with XANGO’s Europe/CIS (Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan)/Africa/Oceania management team to build its business infrastructure, Pierce has returned to company headquarters in Utah to oversee the company’s international expansion. In this role he will work closely to liaison with international regional directors and the company’s board of directors to execute a strategy for expansion in key markets.

Yoko Little has been promoted to Senior Director, Global Product Marketing. Little has been with XANGO for five years, during which time she has brought her experience in product and brand marketing to oversee numerous product launches, marketing and promotions on a global scale. In her position Little oversees a team of directors and brand managers in executing a global strategy. Little has 15 years of experience in product marketing, development and international business with 10 years of experience as a brand manager.

Janay Standifird, a licensed CPA, has been promoted to Corporate Controller, overseeing all accounting functions for XANGO’s global operations. Standifird has been with XANGO since 2007, during which she has overseen accounting for various functions and business units for the company prior to earning her current position.

Brian Gallacher, a veteran of network marketing with more than seven years at XANGO, has been promoted to the position of Director, North and South Americas Development. In this position Gallacher will focus on supporting marketing and operational functions for these markets, which make up XANGO’s highest-revenue region of the world. Gallacher’s background includes having helped XANGO open more than two-thirds of the countries in which it currently operates.

Jina Anson has been promoted to Director of Nutrition Product Management. In this role she will lead marketing, development and formulations for the company’s expanding nutritional product line. Anson joined XANGO in 2009 as a brand manager over nutrition products, and since then has worked on multiple product launches. Prior to joining XANGO, Anson excelled as a product manager within the network marketing industry for 10 years.

A global nutrition company, XANGO LLC was the first company to market a premium mangosteen beverage, XANGO® Juice, to consumers worldwide. XANGO is privately owned and powered by a global network of more than 1 million independent distributors in the U.S. and 40 international markets.

---

RBC Life Sciences Inc.

Cindy L. Tysinger

RBC Life Sciences Inc. announced that Cindy L. Tysinger has been appointed as a member of the company’s board of directors. Tysinger is CEO and founder of GSAT Inc. (GSATi), a provider of business and technology services to global clients. Tysinger founded GSATi in 2008.

Prior to founding her company, Tysinger had a 12-year association with a multinational direct sales company engaged in the distribution of nutritional products, rising up to Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice President of Information Technology.

Tysinger was appointed to fill an open seat on the company’s board of directors. Her initial term extends until the company’s annual meeting of shareholders in 2014.

Through wholly owned subsidiaries, RBC Life Sciences develops, markets and distributes high-quality nutritional supplements and personal care products under its RBC Life brand to a growing population of consumers seeking wellness and a healthy lifestyle.