Judy Jones

A veteran of the direct selling industry and Amway, Judy Jones continually challenges the status quo with curiosity-driven research. She is a past-chair of the USDSA Industry Research Committee and Chair of the WFDSA Global Research team since 2009. Recent interest in the Collaborative Economy has compelled her to study the trends for insight into potential impacts on the direct selling industry.

Jeffrey Kaufman, Ph.D.

Jeff has a passion for helping brands make intelligent marketing decisions based on research and analytics. With over 20 years of experience in consumer insights for clients and suppliers, Dr. Kaufman joined Isagenix in 2013 as the company’s first insights professional. At Isagenix, marketing, sales, and product strategy benefit from insights that Jeff provides from primary research and analyses of consumer and business trends.

Jeff is the Chair of the DSA’s Industry Research Committee. Previously, Dr. Kaufman worked for Avery Office Products, ConAgra Foods, and Kraft Foods, and was awarded the prestigious Ogilvy award in Advertising Research in 2005. Dr. Kaufman earned his master’s and doctorate degrees in organizational psychology from the University of Michigan.

Scott Kramer

Scott Kramer is considered a pioneer in developing the integrated/multi-platform strategies for entertainment, media and consumer brands.

Scott currently serves as Chief Brain at Multibrain, an award-winning software company focused on building simplified social software to empower the direct selling industry.

Prior to the launch of Multibrain, Scott served in senior roles at IMG Worldwide and Creative Artist Agency.  Scott was also responsible for creating and producing Force of Nature, one of the largest Tsunami Benefit Concerts in the world held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which raised over $8M for Tsunami victims.

Scott has received numerous awards, including the AAAA Advertising Excellence Award and the Creative City Award for Communications.

Brent Kugler

Brent Kugler is a prominent attorney in the direct sales industry, with more than 19 years’ experience as both in-house and outside legal counsel for direct sales companies.  Kugler is one of only a few litigation attorneys with a nationwide practice focused on the representation of direct sales companies in federal and state court lawsuits, arbitrations and regulatory matters. Kugler has represented direct sales companies throughout the U.S. in distributor termination cases, solicitation and raiding disputes, theft of trade secret claims, regulatory enforcement actions and challenges to independent contractor status. Kugler also advises established and start-up direct sales companies on federal and state regulatory compliance, distributor agreements, independent contractor issues, social media policies and distributor compensation plans.   

Dick Laurin

Dick Laurin is the Senior Director of Business Ethics at AdvoCare, bringing his 30 years of experience in law and direct sales to the Plano-based health and wellness company.  Dick and his department focus on maintaining the integrity of the company by liaising with the more than 600,000 Independent Distributors.  In close collaboration with the rest of the AdvoCare legal team, Dick works on Distributor investigations, development of best practices and evaluations and modification of policies, as well as serving as the business ethics contact for the Direct Selling Association.  Dick has given presentations and conducted trainings across the country on business ethics best practices. Before joining AdvoCare, Dick served as the Senior Director of Compliance at Mannatech and has held several key legal positions at Dallas-area law firms with an expertise in litigation. Dick received two bachelor’s degrees and his Juris Doctorate from Southern Methodist University.  He has two grown children and lives with his wife, Maryjane, in Dallas.

Heidi Leist

When Lemongrass Spa Founder, Heidi Leist, was pregnant with her daughter she began reading labels on her skincare, makeup and bath products and realized there were many toxins in everything she was using.

On a mission to find safer products she started creating her own bath crystals and tub teas. She and a friend hosted a girls’ night out and showed women how to make their own natural bath crystals. It was that fun-filled evening that inspired Leist to create more products and eventually provide spa experiences for women across the county.

Since those humble beginnings Leist and her mother, Karen, worked together to create products in Leist’s basement when the company first got started in the small mountain town of Bailey, Colorado. Soon thereafter, Leist’s husband, Bryan, quit his IT job to oversee software, accounting and commissions.

In 2007, Lemongrass Spa moved out of the garage to a manufacturing and distribution center in Pine, Colorado, where our home office still operates. In August 2014, a second manufacturing and distribution center opened in Tarpon Springs, Florida.

With manufacturing and distribution centers in both states, we are able to efficiently manufacture and ship to thousands of amazing Lemongrass Spa Consultants and customers across the Country!

Leist is a graduate from the University of South Dakota where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Economics.

Sebastian Leonardi

Mr. Leonardi is an accomplished senior executive, principal consultant and trusted advisor to start-ups and global companies focused in the health & wellness, personal care, fashion and technology markets. He is a recognized expert on omnichannel strategy, social commerce and leading innovative business & technology initiatives engineered to accelerate revenue and market share.

Sebastian has an outstanding record of capturing triple digit growth and has advised & implemented solutions for startups, private equity owned companies and multibillion dollar global conglomerates in North America and Europe. As president & chief business strategist of DSXgroup, Sebastian and his team partner with Consumer Brands (i.e., Nestle, Nautilus, Lego, Kellogg…), Direct Sales Companies (i.e., Ellie Kai, Pampered Chef, Univera..) and Technology Providers (i.e., Fujitsu, Baozun, RepStars, IMN…) to implement innovative channel and go-to-market strategies that drive competitive advantage and new market opportunities.

Prior to leading DSXgroup, Sebastian held multiple senior executive positions including: VP Worldwide Direct Selling & Multichannel Markets for a leading private equity-owned digital media company and SVP for a prominent management and technology consultancy where he led turnarounds and strategy for many of the fastest growing direct sales companies in the world. During his tenure, he engaged with over 60 domestic and multinational companies, achieved top-tier provider status and dominated market leadership in less than 2 years. Additionally, he expanded operations internationally and worked with leading companies in Spain, Italy, France, Austria and the UK. He exceeded new market revenue projections 533%, increased new customer acquisition 330% and user growth 20X.

Sebastian is a frequent speaker at industry events and corporate conventions; He is an architect of innovative word-of-mouth-driven channel strategies, pioneer of Gamification in the global direct sales market; founder of the Associate Network Commerce (ANC) model; and co-founder of the Social Marketing Automation (SMA) platform- implemented by multiple billion-dollar companies, adopted by thousands of users and launched in 45 countries in 25 languages. Sebastian is a Steering Committee Member for the AMA’s Executive Circle and Judge for Temple University’s Fox School of Business’ annual business plan competition.

Alan Luce

Alan Luce is Co-founder and Senior Managing Principal of Strategic Choice Partners, LLC, a consulting firm dedicated to providing services to direct sellers and specializing in guidance for established and start-up organizations alike. As such he has provided compensation plan design, sales force management and strategic advice to more than 40 start-up and dozens of existing direct selling companies including Avon, Princess House, PartyLite Gifts, Inc, Initials, Inc., Mannatech and Amway. In addition to his consulting practice Luce has served on the board of directors of SimplyFun, LLC, Creative Memories and the Alcas Corporation (Cutco-Vector) and many direct selling company advisory boards.

During his career, Mr. Luce has served as Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing for PartyLite Gifts, Inc. and as the Founder & CEO of DK Family Learning, which he took from start-up to more than $30 million in sales in four years in the US and over $80 million in sales worldwide. Prior to that Luce served at Tupperware Home Parties where he spent 16 years rising to the position of Vice President of Administration and General Counsel.  He began his career in direct selling as Associate General Counsel for the Direct Selling Association.  In addition to his work with direct selling companies, Mr. Luce has long been active in the DSA and the Direct Selling Education Foundation, having served on the boards and as Chairman of both organizations.  In 2002 he was recognized for his vision and leadership in DSEF when he was selected to receive the Circle of Honor award and during the 2005 DSA Annual Meeting, based upon his career of industry leadership and service, he was inducted into the Direct Selling Hall of Fame.  He is a frequent industry spokesman and expert lecturer at college and university business schools on behalf of the Direct Selling Education Foundation.

Mr. Luce holds a BA from Westminster College, a JD from Vanderbilt University School of Law and an EMBA degree from the Crummer School of Business at Rollins College.  He has been active in numerous organizations supporting the arts including chairing United Arts in Orlando, Florida and serving on the Mayor’s Task Force on the Arts in that same city.

Dan Macuga

Daniel A. Macuga, Jr., 49, Chief Communications and Marketing Officer. Mr. Macuga joined USANA in 2007 as Vice President of Network Development and Public Relations. In July 2008, he was appointed as Vice President of Marketing, Public Relations and Social Media and served in that role until December 2011, when he was appointed Chief Communications Officer. He served in that role until February 2014 when he was appointed Chief Communications Officer and Executive Vice President of Field Development for the Americas. He served in that role until November 2016 when he was appointed Chief Communications Officer and in April 2018 was appointed Chief Communications and Marketing Officer. Prior to joining USANA, Mr. Macuga was employed at the Chrysler Corporation, where he spent 15 years working closely with independent dealership entrepreneurs to help them build their businesses, increase awareness for their products, and keep them focused on effective customer relationship management. Mr. Macuga received a B.A. in communications from the University of California, San Diego.

Eric Marchant

Eric Marchant is the VP Compliance – Assistant General Counsel at LifeVantage.  In this role, Eric is responsible for the implementation, monitoring and enforcement of the company’s compliance initiatives in the US and in the company’s nine markets around the world.

Prior to joining LifeVantage, Mr. Marchant was a senior sales executive at a number of companies in and outside of direct selling, including Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Neways International (“Modere”) and Regional Sales Manager at The Southwestern Company (Southwestern Advantage).

Mr. Marchant received his J.D. at Brigham Young University’s J. Reuben Clark School of Law and his B.A. degree from Southern Utah University.  He is an active member of the Utah State Bar Association and the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (“SCCE”). He lives with his wife in Provo, UT.