Before the internet was widely available to the public, JR Ridinger envisioned a day when people would buy just about everything they needed and wanted online. He and his wife Loren founded Market America in 1992—years before shopping online was anywhere close to mainstream. It was truly a revolutionary concept more than 30 years ago. In 2010, the company acquired SHOP.com, and today is a global online retail giant with annual revenues topping $800 million.

Direct Selling News held its 15th Global Celebration event on Wednesday, April 3, 2024 in Irving, Texas to recognize and celebrate the best of direct selling. Hundreds of people representing over 115 companies around the world attended in person.

At the DSN Global Celebration, Direct Selling News honored executives and companies for outstanding achievement and excellence in areas of innovation, impact, growth, global good and more. This year, the Global Celebration bestowed more Bravo Awards than ever before.

In a statement on Market America’s Twitter account, the company said: “Market America has lost its great visionary, and the world has lost a passionate human being who believed in other people even more than they believed in themselves.” 

Thirty years ago, the founders of Market America had a crystal ball moment—a vision for referral tracking that could propel entrepreneurs farther than any traditional network marketing company had promised before. Today, JR and Loren Ridinger and the Market America team are once again looking to the future, eager to evolve the online marketplace they’ve been shaping for the last three decades.

The names say it all. Walt Disney. Henry Ford. James Cash Penney. Iconic Founders and CEOs who came to personify the brands they led in the minds and hearts of their employees and the world. This phenomenon is perhaps even more prevalent in direct selling, where there is a long and storied tradition of charismatic leaders who have become synonymous with the companies they helm.