The Symposium Experience

Steven Tew » President-4LIFE RESEARCH - The 4Life Story-Learn From Their Successes, Avoid Their Mistakes

Steve Tew joined the direct selling industry in 1996 and has served as President of 4Life Research™ since 2004. Previously, he held positions as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating officer with 4Life® and ShapeRite® Concepts, Ltd. In August 2000, ShapeRite and 4Life merged operations.

Steve has overseen the international expansion and growth of 4Life since joining the company in 2000. Under Steve’s direction, 4Life has opened offices in 15 countries around the world and is doing business through various business models in over 50 countries.

4Life was recognized by Inc. magazine in 2003 as the 15th fastest growing, privately-owned company in the United States. 4Life was named a member of the Direct Selling News $100 Million Club, a distinguished group of direct selling companies with annual global wholesale revenue of $100 million or more.

4Life is the creator of Transferceutical™ Science and worldwide leader in the distribution of transfer factor products. Steve graduated cum laude from Weber State University with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. He worked as a Certified Public Accountant for Price Waterhouse Coopers for six years, followed by various financial positions at Mrs. Fields Cookies and Park City Group.

Sharon Lechter » President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy | Authored Think and Grow Rich – Three Feet From Gold | Co-Authored Rich Dad, Poor Dad Book Series

Sharon is known worldwide as the co-author of the international best-selling book Rich Dad, Poor Dad and the Rich Dad book series. Rich Dad, Poor Dad has been on The New York Times Best Sellers List for over 6 1/2 years and more than 27 million copies have been sold. Sharon also authored Think and Grow Rich–Three Feet From Gold (October, 2009) in cooperation with Greg Reid and the Napoleon Hill Foundation.

Sharon is an entrepreneur, author, philanthropist, educator, international speaker, licensed CPA, and mother. A life-long education advocate, she is the founder of Pay Your Family First, a financial education organization, and YOUTHpreneur, an innovative new way to spark the entrepreneurial spirit in children. Sharon is also a member of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy. She is a member of the Business Advisory Council for the Attorney General of the State of Arizona. Sharon also serves on the national board of the Women Presidents’ Organization, and the national board of Childhelp.

Sharon graduated from Florida State University with a degree in accounting, then joined a Big Eight accounting firm. She has held management positions with computer, insurance, and publishing companies.

Rod Heckman » KEYSTONE CONSULTING PARTNERS- Creating a 5-Year Financial Plan

Rod Heckman is the founder and Managing Partner of Keystone Consulting Partners, a consultancy focused exclusively on the direct selling industry.

His background includes an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and more than thirty years’ experience in marketing, general management and consulting.

For the past 12 years, his focus has been direct selling, and his experience comprises more than a dozen direct selling companies, including five start-ups.

He has personally held almost every position from warehouseman to CEO, and he has strong first-hand experience in every aspect of direct selling, including o Business planning and strategic thought o Financial plans and forecasting o Marketing strategy and execution o Event planning and execution o Sales development and recruiting o Operations and Technology

In addition, he has consulted to the industry for 5 years; as a consequence, he has: o A comprehensive understanding of industry best practices. o First-hand experience with preferred industry partners. o A clear vision of the requirements for success.

Steve Hooper » IVEY CONSULTING - Managing Your Key Operations

Steve Hooper is a recognized industry name in technology and operational strategy and has had the unique opportunity to head up the Technology Group for two explosive international companies, Quorum International and New Vision International.

Through the design and implementation of technology and operational infrastructure, he helped grow these companies from startups to more than $200 million in annual wholesale sales.

Jennifer Fong » JENNIFER FONG CONSULTING - Web 2.0 Marketing

Jennifer Fong is a speaker, consultant, and trainer, who teaches direct selling companies and individual direct sellers how to use social media effectively as a business building tool. A former direct sales company CEO, Jennifer built her company from the ground up, and understands what it takes to build, lead, and train a team, as well as the major principles of any direct sales business: networking, selling, and recruiting.

A champion of social networking and social media marketing in the direct sales industry, Jennifer is passionate about teaching direct sellers how to use social media tools to enhance their businesses, while remaining true to the fundamentals.

She provides consulting services to direct sales companies, helping them skip the learning curve and achieve immediate success through a comprehensive social media strategy. She also coaches and trains individual direct sellers, and other business owners, on how to put the principles of social media to work in a profitable way, maximizing the return on their social media investment.

Bob Hipple » VP SALES SCENTSY - Recruiting-The Core Elements of Building a Team

With 30 years direct sales experience, Bob has participated in virtually all aspects of the industry - as a customer, an independent distributor, an industry consultant, and as a corporate executive. Bob uses his detailed knowledge of the direct sales model to help drive rapid growth for Scentsy and long-lasting success for Scentsy's passionate independent Consultants. He is actively involved in designing Scentsy's field training, leadership development and Consultant Support. Bob views his role at Scentsy as a "stewardship" to protect and promote business for the Consultants and the company.

After 13 years in the field building a personal downline, Bob entered the corporate side of the industry where he managed sales for two of the largest direct sales software companies in the industry. He has trained thousands of direct sales representatives, been a guest speaker at Direct Sales Association (DSA) and MLM Symposiums, and acted as co-founder of a party plan company. Bob is also a member of the DSA Education Committee, and the owner of Eaglecap Consulting, LLC, a direct sales consulting firm.

Phil Schlesinger » CCH - Product Manager-Sales and Use Tax Issues for Direct Sellers

Phil Schlesinger is the Product Manager for CCH, the leading provider of information services, software and workflow tools for tax, accounting, legal and business professionals. Phil has been in the sales/use tax field for 20 years and involved in all areas of sales and use tax, including compliance, audit, tax research, and automation, both in a corporate environment and in a consulting role.

While in consulting, he prepared taxability matrixes for companies in the software, manufacturing, services, food, medical, advertising and construction industries. Throughout his career, Phil has also been heavily involved in the design, testing, and operation of a number of sales/use tax software tax calculation engines and tax return processing systems, including CCH, Vertex, Taxware and AvaTax. Over the last 4 years, Phil has been intimately involved in Streamlined Sales Tax in various capacities. He has actively participating in Streamlined Sales Tax committees such as the Certification and Audit Committee, as well as various other Streamlined Sales Tax work groups.

Phil holds a BS in Accounting as well as an MBA. Phil has been employed with companies including Novell, Albertsons/American Stores, Harry and David, Avalara, and CCH.

Dave Taylor » LAUNCHSMART™ - Growth and Retention Strategies

Mr. Taylor has founded and sold 6 private businesses, including 2 national training companies offering hundreds of workshops and seminars per-month nationwide. His expertise lies in sales and marketing systems, communications, training, and overall business launch strategy and management.

David has served as an advisor to such companies as Herbalife, USANA, MonaVie, Creative Memories, Avon, Sensaria Natural Bodycare, and Nature's Sunshine. He co-developed the LaunchSmart™ Total Success System, which provides the proven best practices for launching and growing a direct selling company – including tools, training, coaching, consulting, and expert resources. Mr. Taylor has an undergraduate degree in communications and an MBA.

Joe Mariano » Direct Selling Association (DSA) - Introduction to the Direct Selling Association

Mark Rawlins » INFOTRAX SYSTEMS, CEO - Understanding Multi-Level Commissions

The Direct Sales foremost authority on compensation plan design and implementation. Mark's 2002 book, Understanding Multi-Level Commissions and Their Role in a Successful Company has helped college students and industry leaders traverse the complexities of commission plans. With a career managing MLM and network marketing companies that spans more than 27 years, Mark Rawlins is recognized as one of the pioneers of the industry. Mark and his teams delivered early solutions for telephone-based order processing systems, credit card authorization, and Internet communication tools. Mark is committed to teaching compensation plan strategies that drive distributor behavior.

Spencer Reese » GRIMES & REESE, PLLC - Avoid Legal Time Bombs

Spencer is an educator, business leader, and the industry's leading legal resource. He first became involved in direct sales as a distributor for Amway and Nikken, and subsequently served as in-house attorney to Melaleuca, Inc. In 1996, Mr. Reese and Kevin Grimes formed Grimes & Reese, and quickly built a practice representing Herbalife, USANA, Tahitian Noni and other recognizable brands. An expert when it comes to helping the MLM startup form policies and procedures and implement what he calls "Preventative Law." Spencer regularly contributes articles to industry publications and is a member of the Direct Selling Association's Government Relations Committee. He is also a contributing author of Angela Moore's acclaimed book, Building a Successful Network Marketing Business.

Jerry York » BYDESIGN, V.P. SALES - Emcee

From field distributor, owner of his own network marketing company, to an executive of a software integrator serving the industry; Jerry's experience in network marketing spans more than 25 years. Jerry has delivered systems to start-up companies and large international DSA companies. He's published several articles on the industry and has spoken worldwide on building strong and lasting downlines. His knowledge and understanding of the distributor field and corporate experience uniquely qualify him to bring the right software solutions to direct sales companies.

Dan Jensen » DAN JENSEN CONSULTING - Understanding Multi-Level Commissions

In 1978, Dan Jensen founded Jenkon, one of the leading software companies serving the direct selling industry. Since then, working with hundreds of new start-up companies and many direct selling giants, Dan has acquired a broad and unique perspective on what makes successful companies succeed, and what makes some of them fail. He has written numerous articles on sales force compensation and other industry issues including The 10 Most Common Mistakes of Direct Selling Companies, and has consulted for many leading companies on their technology and sales force compensation opportunities.

Reed Wright » Axis41 - Maximizing Your Web-Effect

Reed Wright is an Internet innovator with 14 years experience solving business challenges with Web technologies. He has been a principal at SectorC2W and director of the Web Experience at Novell, Inc., where he launched the award-winning Novell.com Web site and online community. He has worked closely and consulted with businesses such as CNN, Intel, FranklinCovey, and WordPerfect. As chief architect, Mr. Wright oversees the technical teams and provides architectural direction that achieves optimal brand and marketing integration.

Phil Schlesinger » CCH - Sales Tax Nuts & Bolts

Phil has been in the sales/use tax field for 20 years and has been involved in all areas of sales and use tax including compliance, audit, tax research, and automation, both in a corporate environment and in a consulting role. While in consulting, he prepared taxability matrixes for dozens of companies representing numerous types of industries such as software, manufacturing, services, food, medical, advertising and construction. Throughout his career, Phil has also been heavily involved in the design, testing, and operation of several sales/use tax software tax calculation engines and tax return processing systems including CCH, Vertex, Taxware and AvaTax.

Over the last 4 years, Phil has been intimately involved in Streamlined Sales Tax in different capacities some of these include designing software functionality to comply with the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement, overseeing the filing of Streamlined Sales Tax Returns while employed with a Streamlined Certified Service Provider (CSP), actively participating in Streamlined Sales Tax committees such as Certification and Audit, as well as various other Streamlined Sales Tax work groups. Phil holds a BS in Accounting as well as an MBA. He has been employed with companies including Novell, Albertsons/American Stores, Harry and David, Avalara, and CCH.

Wendy Yurgo » Metrics Global, Inc. - PCI Compliance

Wendy Yurgo is the founder, President, and CEO of Metrics Global, Inc., worldwide provider of a wide range of innovative payment solutions. The company provides not only domestic but also international solutions involving multi-currency processing and dynamic currency conversion. Wendy has successfully crafted payment solutions for 100+ MLM companies.
Wendy has held corporate positions, including with Price Waterhouse Coopers; General Counsel for Cinnabon, Inc.; and VP of Business Development for AFC Enterprises. As an entrepreneur, Wendy has been instrumental in the success of several direct selling companies. Her phenomenal success as an Independent Business Owner with Quixtar propelled her to the Founders Platinum Level and to Quixtar’s national speaking circuit.
Following her direct selling career, Wendy started Metrics Business Solutions – a payment solutions company that provided U.S. based companies with merchant accounts, check and ACH services, and gift and loyalty programs. In response to a steadily increasing volume of requests for international merchant account services and multi-currency processing outside the U.S., Metrics Business Solutions began to focus more and more on domestic merchant services, and Metrics Global, Inc. was founded.
Wendy earned a Bachelor of Science from Michigan State University and also graduated from the Thomas M. Cooley School of Law.