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CEO Today USA Awards 2022 - INTRODUCTION - - 3 - CEO T O D A Y USA A W A R D S 2 0 2 2 To see the full list of winners, turn to page 19 Welcome to the 2022 edition of the CEO Today USA Awards. Every year, the CEO Today team takes a look back at the achievements and strategic victories of CEOs across the breadth of US business. The winners of the CEO Today USA Awards are gleaned from a combination of annual reader voting data and a thorough sector-by-sector analysis to discover the most insightful and driven business leaders working in the US and internationally. This year’s award winners are high achievers in their respective fields, with every sector of US industry represented. 2022 has seen the return of the working world to something approaching a state of normalcy, and the leaders identified in the CEO Today USA Awards have gone above and beyond to steer their organisations through all of the new challenges that this has brought. Two such featured winners this year are Nature’s Sunshine CEO Terrence Moorehead, previously featured in the CEO Today Global Awards for his excellence in the nutrition sector, and Merchant Lynx Services founder and CEO John Kucyk, Exclusive interviews with both of these visionaries, along with many more award winner profiles, are included in the pages of this latest edition. We at CEO Today are proud to present this special publication. Congratulations to all of our winners.
WINNERS EDITION OUT NOW Click here or visit www.ceotodaymagazine.com for more information Each year, the CEO Today Global Awards recognise strong and innovative leadership amongst the most inspiring and innovative CEOs and business leaders across the globe. CEO T O D A Y
FEATURED WINNERS CHARLES BROWN President & CEO LifeLabs Medical Laboratory Page6 ARIETTE VAN STRIEN President Marken Page10 TERRENCE MOOREHEAD CEO Nature’s Sunshine Page 14
www.LifeLabs.com LifeLabs is Canada’s leading provider of laboratory diagnostic information and digital health connectivity systems, enabling patients and healthcare practitioners to diagnose, treat, monitor, and prevent disease. We support 20 million patient visits annually and conduct over 100 million laboratory tests through leading edge technologies and our 6,500 talented and dedicated employees. We are a committed innovator in supporting Canadians to live healthier lives, operating Canada’s first commercial genetics lab, and the country’s largest online patient portal, with more than 5 million Canadians receiving their results online. LifeLabs has been named one of Canada’s Best Employers (2021, 2022 and 2023) and Best Employers for Diversity (2022 and 2023) by Forbes and recognized for having an award-winning Mental Health Program from Benefits Canada. LifeLabs is 100% Canadian owned by OMERS Infrastructure, the infrastructure investment manager of one of Canada’s largest defined benefit pension plans. CEO Today USA Awards 2022 - FEATURED WINNER - - 6 -
is continuing to shape the future of healthcare, and I am thrilled that our organization is at the forefront of being able to support individuals and the wider community with health insight, support, and care. LifeLabs boasts a team with diverse backgrounds and expertise. How do you cultivate an environment that keeps them motivated and ensures inclusivity? Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is at the heart of everything we do at LifeLabs. We want to make sure that our employees feel safe and empowered to bring their whole selves to work. Our DEI program (Stronger Together @ LifeLabs) is grounded in our vision of ensuring all individuals feel accepted, respected, and valued at LifeLabs, especially those from equity-deserving groups. While I recognize that we still have a lot of work to do, we have partnered with several external partners to identify and solve current service gaps and challenges. I am very proud that for two consecutive years, we have been Mr. Brown, could you begin by sharing a brief overview of your professional journey leading up to your role as CEO of LifeLabs? I have more than 25 years of experience as an innovative technology leader, from entrepreneurial start-ups to large corporate entities. Grounded in practicality and strategy, I take a straightforward, calm and positive approach to innovate and implement new concepts for startups (ClearNet, WaveRider/WaveWireless), or successfully revive challenged organizations and reinvigorate corporate culture (The Source, LifeLabs). Using an open, informal and forthright communication style, I am proud to have built successful, high-performing teams who have eliminated obstacles and have driven profitability across a wide range of industries, including telecommunications, retail and healthcare. In my previous role as President of The Source, my team and I significantly transformed operations and deliverables to drive exponential increases in shareholder value. In my current role as President and CEO of LifeLabs Medical Laboratory, I am committed to the optimization of service delivery so we can deliver better outcomes for patients and medical professionals. I believe in giving back, and have participated on various boards and executive committees. As the former Chair of Kids Help Phone, we launched a transformative, multi-modal platform delivery system to include confidential calls, texts and chat to support the emotional and health needs of young people across Canada. What inspired you to pursue a career in the healthcare and diagnostics industry? I have always been passionate about how technology is rooted in the customer experience. My career at LifeLabs has allowed me to combine my skills from the technology and retail industries to drive innovation and develop creative approaches in healthcare and diagnostics. I am also proud to be part of an industry that has such potential to help people feel their best. It is exciting to see how technology President and CEO of LifeLabs Medical Laboratory BROWN CHARLES CEO Today USA Awards 2022 - FEATURED WINNER - - 7 -
named one of Canada’s Best Employers for Diversity by Forbes, and the only organization to be honoured in the category of Health Care Equipment & Services. How would you describe your leadership style, and how has it evolved since you took the helm at LifeLabs? As a leader, I believe in constantly learning from those around me. I work with a dedicated, engaged, and caring team that inspires me every day. It is important to me to create a culture of open dialogue as I value the input and ideas that are shared with me. My role is to empower my leadership team and keep things moving by removing barriers and getting out of their way. I trust my team and it is incredibly rewarding to see them thrive after giving them the space and support they need. I firmly believe that strong leaders motivate their teams and one of my greatest passions is supporting leaders as they evolve into more confident, agile, and determined versions of themselves. For our readers who might need to become more familiar, please describe the mission and core services of LifeLabs and how you serve the Canadian public. LifeLabs is a 100% Canadian-owned company that has been serving the healthcare needs of Canadians for more than 50 years. Each year, LifeLabs performs approximately 120 million laboratory tests to help diagnose, treat, monitor and prevent diseases for Canadians. The customer is at the centre of everything we do and we are committed to empowering healthier lives of Canadians. Our customers count on us to provide accurate, timely, and informative results. This motivates us every day to deliver the high quality, accurate service our customers depend on that also fuels our culture of continuous improvement so we can achieve excellence. How does LifeLabs differentiate itself in Canada’s competitive landscape of medical diagnostic services? LifeLabs’ core mission is to be a valued healthcare partner for Canadians, providing reliable service and trusted results. We are focused on empowering the healthier version of the lives of Canadians. We want to make diagnostic insights accessible, so our customers are empowered to make choices to live their best lives. Our team steps up when needed, especially in the face of urgent public health care crises. When COVID-19 impacted the lives of Canadians and the global economy, we were able to continue to provide essential services to our customers, clients, and partners. We worked closely with our government partners, making crucial investments to help maintain lab diagnostic testing services and ensured critical testing was available to support healthcare. I am also proud to share that we are involved with several incredible organizations in communities across Canada. Our employees are engaged and regularly donate, fundraise, or volunteer for Canadian Registered Charities or Non-Profit Organizations. We also focus our impact on sustainability. We know the health of our planet is closely linked to the health CEO Today USA Awards 2022 - FEATURED WINNER - - 8 -
of our customers and communities. Together our teams are relentlessly pursuing opportunities to reduce our environmental footprint and build a sustainable business that will benefit our communities today and well into the future. What were the most significant milestones for LifeLabs under your leadership? For me, the most significant milestone in my career was working through the COVID-19 pandemic. During that time, we worked with our government partners to complete over 4 million COVID-19 molecular tests and helped reopen borders and offices by assisting with the screening of COVID-19 symptoms for travelers and employees. In addition, we launched a COVID-19 Home Collection Kit service in BC, Saskatchewan, and the Yukon, and rolled out new digital tools, such as MyVisit, to support home care service for customers in Ontario, improving the appointment booking experience. Aside from the incredible work that stemmed from COVID-19, I am also proud that LifeLabs has been recognized for its culture being named one of Canada’s Best Employers and one of Canada’s Best Employers for Diversity by Forbes, along with receiving the Workplace Benefit Award for Effective Mental Health Programs for delivering creative and effective mental health initiatives to support the psychological well-being of our employees, and an Environmental Excellence Award by Practice Greenhealth. The healthcare industry is rapidly evolving, and LifeLabs has innovated in recent years regarding HVC technology and genetic testing. Where do you see the next technological quantum leap coming from? At LifeLabs, we are constantly seeking opportunities to adapt to the ever-changing healthcare needs of Canadians. I believe that customers are at the heart of innovation as they seek greater understanding of their test results and look to make more informed decisions to guide their healthcare journey. From a personal lens, I am incredibly proud of the innovation that has stemmed from partnerships within the community. We recently partnered with the Stellat’en First Nation, Village of Fraser Lake, the First Nations Health Authority (FHNA), the Rural Coordination Centre of BC (RCCbc), University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Drone Delivery Canada (DDC) to investigate how drone technology can be used to improve healthcare for rural and remote First Nations communities. New technologies such as drones can present opportunities to deliver health services closer to home, improving accessibility to certain medical support for people in remote and rural communities. Lastly, where do you see LifeLabs in the next 5-10 years regarding innovation, expansion, and service offerings? I am excited about many of the advancements that are coming to healthcare and lab diagnostics. As technology becomes more accessible to our industry, we are being given the opportunity to take on new challenges and think outside the box. I believe that this will enable greater personalization in healthcare that only further drives our customer-centric focus. This momentum of change will continue to push innovation and technology forward for healthcare and I know that myself and the team at LifeLabs will be at the forefront of this exciting digital shift. CEO Today USA Awards 2022 - FEATURED WINNER - - 9 -
CEO Today USA Awards 2022 - FEATURED WINNER - - 10 - Ariette van Strien President Marken “It’s an honor for me to share my career journey as part of the CEO Today Global Awards 2023. My career has been very diverse – culturally, geographically, and across a spectrum of industries including pharma, clinical research organizations and logistics. I currently serve as President of Marken, overseeing over 2,500 employees across the globe. I have been privileged to lead Marken through a period of exponential growth – especially during the pandemic, where we provided support for highly specialized vaccines and treatments. I am especially proud of the Marken team. Together with BOMI Group and Polar Speed, and under the UPS Healthcare and UPS family – we operate as one team, globally – as the preferred and trusted partner to healthcare. We have a critical role in delivering groundbreaking therapies for Cell & Gene, RNA, drug development and countless new treatments to cure, not just treat, disease.” Our organization includes 199 locations worldwide. Marken’s state-of-the-art GMPcompliant depot network and logistic hubs enable clinical drug product storage and distribution across 60 locations worldwide, in addition to home healthcare and direct-to-patient services, biological kit production and biological sample shipments. Our capacity at Marken is impressive: our staff manages 154,000 drug product and biological samples shipments every month – at all temperature ranges – and have orchestrated more than 14,000 home healthcare visits. We are uniquely positioned in the pharma and logistics industry – and with our industry partners are looking ahead to the future of big data, RNA, AI, clinical and commercial cell and gene therapy, and so much more. www.marken.com
CEO Today USA Awards 2022 - FEATURED WINNER - - 11 - How has your work developed throughout your Marken journey from joining as COO in 2010, through today as President? I think it might be simpler to ask how it has not changed. Marken nearly tripled in size in the past three years – and my responsibilities have grown along with our business. I am fully responsible for P&L, leading our Executive Committee and strategic direction, partnering with our leadership at UPS Healthcare and UPS, and focusing on ‘what if?’ – the challenges of economic uncertainty, political instability, and global disruptions impacting logistics and healthcare. All of us – all leadership in healthcare – have a tremendous responsibility to address inequities in healthcare and work toward true universal access. Tell me how you have approached change. What significant challenges have you and your colleagues overcome? I have a true passion for reading. I typically approach change with research. I spend more time reading and researching, especially absorbing outside-in views of innovations from other industries and how they approach and overcome the issues we all face as CEO – how to tackle growth, talent density, quality control, turnover, attracting key talent and building the workforce of tomorrow. I believe we have even greater challenges ahead. It will be more challenging to lead a company through recession than it has been to lead through growth. The Marken leadership, along with our UPS Healthcare leadership, have done a great job of anticipating unmet needs in global logistics, expecting the unexpected, and remaining agile. The pandemic was an opportunity for us to show that we can quickly ramp-up to deliver highly specialized medicines, and we targeted key talent – hiring ahead of the curve. Marken employees are exceptionally resilient – I am continually impressed as I travel to our branches, depots, and warehouses. What do you think is your customers’ biggest problem and how do you tackle it? What was the most difficult decision you have made in your career thus far? Our customers’ biggest challenge is cost optimisation and accelerating drug development during a post-pandemic period of widespread supply shortages, including medical staff shortages. We can tackle this together. First, we have asked ourselves what services we need to add to our portfolio to be the preferred sole provider to pharma companies, which will ensure we are meeting the clients’ focus on cost I believe we have even greater challenges ahead. But we are ready, unveiling new opportunities to rapidly evolve at lightspeed with resilient solutions for clients and patients who rely on us.
This year, our mantra is “Back to Basics”. Driven by our passion for patients, we are laserfocused on quality, improving our processes, consistency and employee development to ensure we continue to exceed customer expectations. optimisation and process efficiencies. We will continue to invest in home health worldwide, making the patient a priority. I don’t believe there has been one single ‘most difficult’ moment – as President, I face new challenges constantly. It is never easy to restructure, to put aside personal feelings and longstanding relationships, to do what is right for the business and the future of the organization. I constantly ask myself, ‘do we have the right people in the right roles focused on the right priorities?’. I have learned I do not have the luxury of mixing emotions with business decisions. Is there a particular achievement you are most proud of from your period as President? Absolutely - I am extremely proud of what we were able to accomplish in the past three years during the COVID pandemic. We drew together as a team. We experienced an unprecedented pace of change during 2020 and 2021, tripling the size of the company from 900 to over 2,500 employees – while relying solely on virtual recruitment to create jobs. I am proud that Marken made a difference in the lives of our employees and their families and communities, hiring and developing talent at a time when many other industries were downsizing or shutting down completely. This year we are focused on ‘back to basics’ – greater focus on processes, procedures, and protocols and with a laser focus on quality. I am confident we will continue to exceed customer expectations and win new business. I am so proud of the Marken team – who we were, who we are now, and who we will be in the future. How has your past experience aided you in this role? Experience is what prepares each of us for the next role. I have had global roles and the privilege of exposure to many diverse cultures, which helped me to substantially understand the clinical development ecosystem. Moving to and living in different cities and countries has given me perspective invaluable to decisionmaking. What does this award mean to you? This award recognizes the entire team – none of us succeeds alone. The Marken organization was classified as essential during the pandemic, and we are still serving as the link between drug development and the patients requiring treatment. Without Marken, without global logistics and home health, the vital link is missing. Do you have any predictions for emergent trends and developments in the supply chain industry in 2023? What will future industry trends look like in 5, 10 or 20 years from now? The future will depend on minimizing CEO Today USA Awards 2022 - 12 - - FEATURED WINNER -
The entire Marken organisation was classified as essential during the pandemic, and we are still serving as the vital link between a drug in development and the patient. risk, especially in the supply chain. We always ask, will there be more regional or local manufacturing? Will we depend on fewer vendors? How will shortages or disruptions impact our decision-making? I am an avid reader, and it’s clear that our industry is changing. Marken is agile – and we will need to continue to demonstrate flexibility – consider 3D printing, digital patient (Metaverse Avatars) – so much of what is done physically today will be accomplished virtually before going into production. Can you tell us anything about what might be in store for Marken this year? At Marken, we will continue to expand access in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) with a focus on vaccines, such as sub-Saharan Africa. In other areas our growth is in response to a demand for clinical trials, such as Japan, China, and Korea. In these areas and across the globe, we will continue to streamline our network and optimize new technology. We have the best people and the best tools – and we will continue to deliver with excellence. How do you want the world to remember you? I would like to be remembered as someone who listened, who was open and human, and who made a difference. I would like the team I helped to build (and continue to build) to have learned from me and found those insights to be useful on their personal and professional journeys. And I would like to be remembered as someone who enjoyed a good laugh! CEO Today USA Awards 2022 - 13 - - FEATURED WINNER -
www.naturessunshine.com “I have been leading companies around the world for the past 25 years. I began my career as a management consultant with Booze Allen & Hamilton, then proceeded to go into the health and beauty aids industry with Avon and travelled around the world with them, running and transforming businesses in Italy, Canada, and Japan. I was later the CEO of a great European beauty company called Dana Beauty and the CEO of a women’s luxury apparel company named Carlisle Etcetera. I joined Nature’s Sunshine, a leading nutritional supplements company, in 2018. The board brought me in to turn around and transform the company and help the company get our fair share of this fast-growing and dynamic industry, as well as make sure that we had a future that continued to position us as a leader in the marketplace. Nature’s Sunshine is the first company to encapsulate herbs. It was founded in 1972 by Gene and Kristine Hughes, who first came upon the idea back when there was no wellness industry. They were looking for a solution to solve some personal health issues, and Kristine Hughes came up with the idea of putting some herbs in capsules in order to make them easier to take and easier to digest. And lo and behold, it worked! Fast-forward to today and we are doing business in 40 markets around the world, selling our products through specialty retailers, health practitioners, affiliates and business builders, and direct to consumers online. It is an exciting time to be a part of Nature’s Sunshine as we continue to transform the business.” CEO Today USA Awards 2022 - 14 - - FEATURED WINNER -
Terrence Moorehead CEO of Nature’s Sunshine When we last spoke, you talked about how you were looking to reimagine Nature’s Sunshine and its business by way of data and digital tools. How far has that come along since this summer? It has come quite far along, and we have continued to build out our web tools. When building a website, there is a lot of work that has to be done behind the scenes to make sure that it is fast enough, that you have all the keywords and search words, your customer reviews and all your SEO built into it. We have put in a lot of the basic building blocks of getting our website to be more effective and done a lot of work to make the user interface more effective. We have also continued to work on our customer acquisition techniques, looking at what media and which touchpoints work most effectively for us at different points in the year. We are working with some new data partners on that as well. We continue to make progress – and it is a continual process. On top of upgrading your web tools, what challenges have you had to contend with this year? The largest issue is that consumers are having to allocate their dollars to the basics: gasoline, food, etc. People are still very conscious about and focused on their health, but they are making trade-offs between how often and how much they might want to spend on any particular product. What we have to contend with is making certain that Nature’s Sunshine is at the forefront of people’s minds. Just acquiring new customers is harder in this environment. But then we are also having to work harder to retain those customers. We are always doing both of those things, but again, we now have more headwinds in this marketplace. So you have made more stepped-up marketing efforts to keep hold of your strong existing customer base? Absolutely. And it is across every dimension. You just have to be better at every single thing that you do, whether it is your targeting of new people or retargeting old ones, or what you have to talk to them about, or what the offer that you might have with them is at any particular time. You just have to be sharper with everything that you do right now. And of course, your competitors are also stepping up their efforts to keep pace with the current economy. They are. I think the difference that we are seeing with the current competition is that they seem much NATURAL HEALTH & WELLNESS COMPANY OF THE YEAR CEO Today USA Awards 2022 - 15 - - FEATURED WINNER -
more inclined to go straight to product discounts and promotions. Our products are premium products for a reason. It is because of cost of the ingredients and the quality that we put into them, and the care that goes into sourcing and finding those ingredients and ensuring that they are pure and potent. We do a lot of things like wild crafting, where we send people out into the woods to forage ingredients. They forage for cascara, ginger and other things by hand and that is an expensive endeavour. That is how Nature’s Sunshine does business, but it is not necessarily how these other companies are doing business. Again, the way we do business is why we are able to give you products that deliver results you can actually feel. You can discern the difference with products that actually have potency and purity behind them. We take extreme care in that, so we are not leaning heavily on that discounting arm; we are really just leaning more heavily on the fact that our brand offers the most powerful supplements on the planet. That really is meaningful to consumers, because they are not wasting their money. The manufacturing process is where all the magic happens. You can give somebody the formula and all the ingredients and everything that they need, but it will not work the same way. I am not a good cook – you can give me all the ingredients you want to, but they are not going to come out of the oven at the quality of what a Michelin Star chef is going to deliver! We have craftsmen who have been working with us for 25-30 years who really know the process and what they are doing; they are artisans. It really makes a difference when you have that, and it is at every stage of the manufacturing process from the mixing to the processing. Again, that is where our products deliver results. We also do more testing than other companies and will reject ingredients that other companies are perfectly happy to sell. That may be as simple as basic testing for the presence of ash in a product. Ash is dirt – that is where things like E. coli would reside, or salmonella, or heavy metals. It is a simple test that other companies do not use. We also do more sophisticated tests on the purity and potency of our products, and we have the equipment that will allow us to do that. Again, this is equipment that other companies just do not have. We are one of five companies in North America that have a particular machine that allows us to break down products and then discern what is actually in them and how potent they are. If you think about the 500 companies that are out there selling suplements in America alone, and the 30,000 products that are out there, that is how much difference there is between what Nature’s Sunshine does as one of those five companies and what the other 500 are doing. It is pretty thin air up here where we do business versus the other 495 companies that are out there. In addition to the extra efforts that you are taking to shore up your existing base of loyal customers, have you witnessed any other emerging trends in the nutrition sector at this time? People want to make sure that they are getting their basic nutrition – their fruits and vegetables, the importance of multivitamins, sleep and other things that help to reduce anxiety, just these basic bodily functions. There used to be a craze around things like CBD (which, when done right, is an excellent herbal healing aid), but we have seen a shift of people towards simply trying to take care of their basic health. We are focusing on the herbal side of that. Herbs and botanicals in particular are very popular. People want ingredients that are natural and to work with companies they can trust, and those things are very important today. “The care we take in building our products is important, but we also have 600 different products; we literally have something for everyone and for every ailment that someone might have.” CEO Today USA Awards 2022 - FEATURED WINNER - - 16 -
Regarding your career achievements so far, is there one that you would consider yourself proudest of having accomplished? That’s like asking me to choose which is my favourite child! I believe that the transformation going on right now is both significant and meaningful. I often think about the founding roots of our company with Gene and Kristine Hughes sitting around their kitchen table, when the wellness industry did not exist. If you wanted to take herbs or get involved in the space, you had to do the research yourself. You probably had to make some awful-tasting teas or some other miserable concoction in order to take them. They started this industry as adventurous pioneers, learning what they could, experimenting, charting new waters for the industry and also for this company. Here we are 50 years later, trying to reimagine Nature’s Sunshine as truly the nutritional supplement company of the future. That not only has to do with how we create products and what we have to offer consumers, but also how we work with consumers to improve their health – and that has to do with leveraging technology more effectively. We talked about the digital side to an extent, making sure that we can work with people to get them the products they are looking for in a manner that they want to buy them in, but we are also providing personalised solutions for people – truly personalised solutions. I believe that Nature’s Sunshine is uniquely positioned to do that, unlike a lot of other companies that talk about “People want ingredients that are natural and to work with companies they can trust, and those things are very important today.” CEO Today USA Awards 2022 - FEATURED WINNER - - 17 -
CEO Today USA Awards 2022 - 18 - - FEATURED WINNER - personalisation. This is because of the fact that we do the research, testing and manufacturing ourselves. The care we take in building our products is important, but we also have 600 different products; we literally have something for everyone and for every ailment that someone might have. That is why we may be the best equipped company to provide personalised solutions for people and use technology to bring it to them right in their homes. This is something that we have been doing for 50 years; we have just been doing it through our network of thousands of herb shops and tens of thousands of health practitioners and specialty retailers around the country and around the world, providing personalised solutions for people based on their individual needs. Now we are taking that to the next level, incorporating new steps in technology and broadening access to those products on both a national and global scale. So you expect to be building on this personalisation initiative in the coming three to five years? Exactly – and really incorporating it into our DNA. That journey really has reignited our passion in our company, but it has also attracted tens of thousands more consumers to our business over the past 18-24 months or so since we started this work. What else can we expect to see from Nature’s Sunshine and the wider nutrition sector in the coming years? From the serious players in the market, there is going to be a greater emphasis on linking diagnostics to results; looking at what are your personal aids are as defined by some type of diagnostics and then determining a specific response to that. I think that is going to be an increased focus throughout the industry. You are also going to start to see more specialty products. We have such a diverse range of consumers in the marketplace, so there is a vast array of competitors also playing in the space. Consumers also have more information than ever; they can just find things specifically designed for them. You will start to see more specialty products in the market place, so probably some more fragmentation. From us specifically, you are going to start to see a much greater focus on personalisation. If you, a customer, are looking for a particular product regimen or have a particular issue you are trying to address, we can find something specifically for you. And given the range of products we have, it will be just for you. Also, I expect we will be spending a lot more time focusing on our ‘mega brands’ and building out some of them, just to make it easier for people to shop
CEO Today USA Awards 2022 - 19 - - FEATURED WINNER - Nature’s Sunshine. I talk about having 600 products, and that is fantastic, but if you are coming to the store for the first time, we are obviously not going to lay all of those out in front of you. That would be a bit daunting. But there are a couple of products that really do shine, some of which are already in our portfolio and some of which will be launching in the course of the next 12-18 months. We will spend a lot more time focusing on some of these foundational products that are really good for everyone and everyone’s health. I think the difference with what we do – as in everything that we do – is that the emphasis will be on providing powerful, potent products that deliver tangible results. There are a lot of other companies introducing products in the marketplace who talk excitedly about how they have 70 superfoods inside them... and then you stop and think about it for a second, and you realise how little that means in a teaspoon of product. That is why, when you take some of the competitors’ products, the biggest complaints that consumers have is that they do not feel any different. They do not have any more energy or vitality. That is because there may be 70 ingredients in the product, but they are not at therapeutical levels. When we develop our products, we always ensure that we hit the right levels, and that is a huge difference.
CEO Today USA Awards 2022 - 21 - - INDEX - CEO T O D A Y USA A W A R D S 2 0 2 2 INTRODUCING THE WINNERS USA Olivier Delrieu Trescal Calibration Services Leader of the Year ALABAMA Jan Henriksen Aviagen Poultry Farming Company of the Year Phil Ramsey Command Alkon Cloud Based Construction Software Provider of the Year Tom Stanton ADTRAN, Inc. Communications Solutions Company of the Year ARIZONA Bob Maguire BioLab Sciences BioScience Company of the year ATLANTA Paul Share Riveron Finance Transformations Leader of the Year CALIFORNIA Abeer Raz Tekrevol Software Development Company of the Year Abhijit Phanse United Layer IT Services Leader of the Year 26 Dan Leigh Corman Leigh Real Estate Leader of the Year
CEO Today USA Awards 2022 - 22 - - INDEX - David Mowry CUTERA Medical Aesthetic Company of the Year Greg Johnson McAfee Cybersecurity Company of the Year Jennifer M. Johnson Franklin Templeton Investments Investment Solutions Company of the Year Jessica Hawthorne Hawthorne Advertising Advertising Specialist of the Year Jill Griffin Advantage Solutions Marketing Services Company of the Year Laura Alber Williams-Sonoma, Inc. Consumer Retail Leader of the Year Madeleine Homan Blanchard Ken Blanchard Coaching Services Founder of the Year Mitchell Nguyen WebBadge Digital Services Leader of the Year Richard Lewis Dean Lewis Associates Hardware Solutions Company of the Year Robert Bradway Amgen Biotechnology Company of the Year Steven Fisk Slidell Moving and Storage Trucking Services Leader of the Year COLORADO Jahna Eichel Fort Collins Creative Agency Creative Marketing & Branding CEO of the Year CONNECTICUT Brian Doubles Synchrony Consumer Financial Services Company of the Year 28 David Cordani Cigna Healthcare Insurance Company of the Year Scott Dahnke L Catterton International Private Equity Firm of the Year 30 DELAWARE Janice Nevin ChristianaCare Healthcare Leader of the Year 32 FLORIDA Brent Burns JM Family Enterprises Automotive Leader of the Year 34 Chief Gene Saunders Project Lifesaver International Non Profit Leader of the Year 36 John Ketchum NextEra Energy Innovation in Sustainable Energy John Kucyk Merchant Lynx Services Payments Solutions Leader of the Year GEORGIA Craig Menear Home Depot Retailer of the Year
CEO Today USA Awards 2022 - 23 - - INDEX - Ryan Marshall PULTEGROUP, INC Construction Leader of the Year 38 W. Brant Aden W&A Engineering Civil Engineering Firm of the Year ILLINOIS Brian Mavraganes Option One Energy, LLC Sustainable Energy Company of the Year Dan Hickey Jabian Consulting Business Strategy Advisory Firm of the Year Robert Ford Abbott Laboratories Medical Technology Company of the Year Tim Walbert Horizon Therapeutics Pharmaceuticals Leader of the Year 42 Tom Wilson The Allstate Corporation Insurance Company of the Year INDIANA David Ricks Eli Lilly and Company Medicines Manufacturing Company of the Year 44 IOWA Marty Vanderploeg Workiva Software Leader of the Year 46 KENTUCKY Scott Sewell Charah Solutions Fossil Services & Solutions Company of the Year LOUISIANA Enzo Calamo Lugen Family Office Legacy Planning & Wealth Management Leader of the Year Leo Denault Entergy Corporation Energy Leader of the Year 48 MAINE Melissa Smith WEX Inc Fintech Leader of the Year 50 MARYLAND Adam H. Stedham GP Strategies Business Services Leader of the Year 52 Charles Lambert Charles Lambert Divisions Program Management Services Leader of the Year James Balda Argentum Home Care Services of the Year James Taiclet Lockheed Martin Corporation Aerospace Company of the Year Ken Buch SHIFT Transformational Coaching & Consulting Service of the Year
CEO Today USA Awards 2022 - 24 - - INDEX - MASSACHUSETTS Stuart Long InfoBionic Virtual Telemetry Company of the Year Tom Leighton Akamai Technologies Information Technology Leader of the Year 54 MICHIGAN Sara E. Armbruster Steelcase Furniture Manufacturing Company of the Year 56 MINNESOTA Beth Ford Land O’Lakes Agriculture Leader of the Year Bradley DeWolf Bolton & Menk Engineering Leader of the Year 58 MISSOURI Kenneth Bateman SoutheastHEALTH USAs Leading Healthcare System NEVADA Larry Pepe Larry Pepe Training, Nutrition & Supplementation Leader of the Year NEW HAMPSHIRE Eric Soederberg Sunrise Labs Inc Engineering Consulting Company of the Year 62 NEW JERSEY Alex Gorsky Johnson and Johnson Chairman of the Year Jonathan Wilk CompoSecure, L.L.C. Financial Services Leader of the Year 64 Owusu Kizito Investigroup Companies Non Profit Leader of the Year Robert M. Davis Merck Innovation in Health Solutions William Cullen AEGIS Insurance Services, Inc. Insurance Services Leader of the Year NEW YORK Anu Dattani Universal Relocations Shipping Solutions Company of the Year James Owens Cisive Employment Screening Solutions Leader of the Year
CEO Today USA Awards 2022 - 25 - - INDEX - Keren Levy Payoneer Cross Boarder Payment Platform of the Year Larry Fink BlackRock Investment & Technology Solutions Company of the Year Michelle Keefe Syneos Health Biopharmaceutical Solutions Company of the Year Ramon Laguarta PepsiCo Global Leader in Convenient Foods & Beverages Steve Squeri American Express Credit Card Service Company of the Year NORTH CAROLINA Carl S. Armato Novant Health Healthcare Provider of the Year 66 OHIO Dennis Postema Postema Insurance and Investments Insurance & Investments Leader of the Year OKLAHOMA Tammy Frazier American Data Plates, Inc. Female CEO of the Year OREGON Jon Thomsen Atmosers Security Solutions Technology of the Year PENNSYLVANIA Brad Domitrovitsch americanenergy-inc.com Environmental Service Company of the Year Douglas C. Yearley, Jr. Toll Brothers, Inc. Building & Construction Company of the Year 68 PUERTO RICO Oscar Flores Malpica SIGNS & MEDIA Printing Services Company of the Year SOUTH CAROLINA Christopher Kemper Palmetto Clean Technology, Inc. Solar Energy Solutions Company of the Year 70 Jason Dandridge CDG Billing Solutions Company of the Year TENNESSEE Eric Fuller U.S. Xpress Logistics Leader of the Year
CEO Today USA Awards 2022 - 26 - - INDEX - John McDearman III Wilson Bank & Trust Banking Leader of the Year 72 Randy Hensley Coalition for Kids Non Profit Company of the Year TEXAS Adam Romo Eatzi’s Market & Bakery Food & Beverage Services Leader of the Year 74 Alexander Colosivschi Currux Vision AI Technology Leader of the Year 77 Bob Jordan Southwest Airlines Executive of the Year Chris Morris Dave & Buster’s Hospitality Leader of the Year Clemens Pfeiffer Tier44 Technologies, Inc. Leading Developer of Data Center Management Software CY Zheng Sanhua North America Manufacturing Leader of the Year James J. Talerico, Jr. Greater Prairie Business Consulting, Inc. Business Consulting Leader of the Year 78 L. Pierre de Rochemont Frontier Nanosystems Professional Services Company of the Year Lisa Su Advanced Micro Devices Semiconductor Company of the Year Walter Bettinger II Charles Schwab Corporation Brokerage Company of the Year UTAH Terrence Moorehead Nature’s Sunshine Natural Health & Wellness Company of the Year VIRGINIA Andres Gluski The AES Corporation Utility & Power Generation Company of the Year Anthony M. Irudhayanathan Zillion Technologies Cybersecurity Leader of the Year WASHINGTON Olu Burrell Olu Burrell Consulting Executive Coach of the Year Preston Feight PACCAR Automotive Manufacturing Company of the Year Suzanne Sitherwood Sprire Inc. Utilities Leader of the Year WISCONSIN Blake Moret Rockwell Automation Industrial Automation Company of the Year 80 Nathan Quinnell Prevail Bank Personal Banking Services of the Year
CEO Today USA Awards 2022 - CALIFORNIA - Chief Executive Officer Abhijit Phanse leads a group of companies; UnitedLayer, United Private Cloud, and UnityOneCloud. UnitedLayer is one of the leading Hybrid Cloud solution provider, whereas United Private Cloud delivers industry-leading high-performance software defined Private Clouds, and UnityOneCloud offers DCIM and Multicloud management SaaS platform. Abhijit has a strong vision and passion for entrepreneurship. A technology veteran, Abhijit has over two decades of senior management, operating, and investing experience in technology businesses. He has led high-growth companies across diverse technology sectors. Abhijit also serves as the Managing Partner of Accelon Capital, a private equity firm that invests in growth-stage companies. Before leading UnitedLayer, Abhijit was the co-founder and CEO of Scintera (acquired by NYSE: INPHI and NASDAQ: MXIM), a leading provider of high-speed wireline chipsets for data centers and high-performance wireless chipsets for base stations. Abhijit has a proven track record of successfully launching companies in technology-intensive industries and driving strong profitable growth. He also held global leadership roles at National Semiconductor before founding Scintera, where he led the development and commercialization of Ethernet networking products. Abhijit has a B.Tech. Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, an MS in Management from Stanford Business School, and an MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Central Florida. Combining these diverse experiences has given him an appreciation for the challenges and thrill of both entrepreneurship and large-scale projects. Also, Abhijit has authored numerous publications and has over 50 US patents. - 28 -
CEO Today USA Awards 2022 - CALIFORNIA - - 29 - UnitedLayer was established in 2001 and is headquartered in San Francisco, CA. It is a global hybrid cloud solution provider offering colocation, private cloud hosting, managed cloud services, and multicloud management solutions. In 2010 UnitedLayer was acquired by a private equity fund, Accelon Capital. Its key industries include TMT, BFSI, Public Sector, Healthcare, Retail, Logistics, and Oil & Gas, with 300+ clients globally with its footprints spread across 100+ DC locations globally UnitedLayer’s portfolio ecosystem includes: • UnitedLayer colocation provides data center and colocation services with fully redundant infrastructure, superior outage protection, and a seamless software-defined 40G to 100G network. • United Private Cloud provides a softwaredefined private cloud with On-Demand( VM, vRAM, vCPU ) powered by VMware, Hyper-V, OpenStack, and bare metal. Cloud offerings can be installed in any Data Center to provide highperformance, optimized, highly secured, and highly available private cloud infrastructure. • UnityOneCloud: SaaS platform for multicloud management of data centers, private cloud, and public clouds. It has plug-ins into AWS, Azure, OCI, GCP (including being used with Google to extend Anthos), and private cloud (VMware, OpenStack, KVM, and Hyper-V). Abhijit Phanse CEO of UnitedLayer www.unitedlayer.com IT SERVICES LEADER OF THE YEAR
www.synchrony.com Brian Doubles is President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Synchrony, one of the nation’s premier consumer financial services companies. Brian was named CEO in 2021, after serving as President for two years and as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for 10 years. As President, Brian led the development of Synchrony’s longterm strategy, driving profitability and growth, while creating value for its partners and shareholders. In this role he focused on Synchrony’s continued leadership in digital payments, accelerating growth, driving the company’s strategic initiatives and transforming how Synchrony works. In addition, he led Synchrony’s strategic prioritization process, including efforts centered around accelerating Synchrony’s digital transformation and commercial strategies. Brian also led Synchrony’s work to elevate diversity and inclusion, focusing on driving enterprise-wide action and change in workforce development and inclusion; financial growth and wellness; and racial equality and social reform. As CFO, he played a pivotal role in Synchrony’s initial public offering in 2014 and separation from GE in 2015. Brian has a proven track record operating in various economic cycles and has earned a strong reputation for his deep domain expertise, strategic thinking, and financial and risk discipline. CEO Today USA Awards 2022 - CONNECTICUT - - 30 -
Synchrony is a premier consumer financial services company delivering one of the industry’s most complete digitally-enabled product suites. Our experience, expertise and scale encompass a broad spectrum of industries including digital, health and wellness, retail, telecommunications, home, auto, powersports, pet and more. We have an established and diverse group of national and regional retailers, local merchants, manufacturers, buying groups, industry associations and healthcare service providers, which we refer to as our “partners.” We connect our partners and consumers through our dynamic financial ecosystem and provide them with a diverse set of financing solutions and innovative digital capabilities to address their specific needs and deliver seamless, omnichannel experiences. We offer the right financing products to the right customers in their channel of choice. Retail. Healthcare. Auto. Travel. Home. They’re some of life’s most important spending categories, and Synchrony offers a range of financing products across all of them, and more. Founded on the concept of building lasting, loyal relationships through credit, we’ve become the largest private label credit card brand in the United States. Plus, as a regulated bank, we provide the structure and support you expect. Because at Synchrony, it’s not just about financing purchases. It’s about providing innovative financing and tools that give businesses and customers the power to thrive. We’re shaping the future of retail financing and customer engagement every day. How? We combine technology and analytics to stay ahead of emerging trends, then pilot new programs and partnerships to deliver innovative solutions fast. WE’RE MORE THAN A FINANCING PARTNER, WE’RE A BUSINESS PARTNER. From payment solutions to loyalty-building marketing, we’re here with insights that can help you make the most of every opportunity. With 90 years of proven expertise across key industries and a range of business customers in all sizes, we provide value beyond just financing. Our deep insights into consumer behavior, trends and technology help merchants stay ahead of the curve — and stay competitive. From payment solutions to loyalty-building marketing, we’re here with insights that can help you make the most of every opportunity. Brian Doubles CEO of Synchrony CEO Today USA Awards 2022 - CONNECTICUT - - 31 - CONSUMER FINANCIAL SERVICES COMPANY OF THE YEAR
www.LCatterton.com “With more than $33 billion of equity capital across its fund strategies and 17 offices around the world, L Catterton is the largest global consumerfocused private equity firm.” CEO Today USA Awards 2022 - CONNECTICUT - - 32 -
Scott Dahnke is the Global co-Chief Executive Officer of L Catterton. With more than $33 billion of equity capital across its fund strategies and 17 offices around the world, L Catterton is the largest global consumer-focused private equity firm. Leveraging deep category insight, operational excellence, and a broad strategic network of relationships, L Catterton’s team of nearly 200 investment, and operating professionals support management teams around the world in building strong, categoryleading brands. Since 1989, the firm has made approximately 250 investments in consumer businesses. Scott has spent the last 25 years in private equity and has led or co-led over 35 investments. His broader business experience includes private equity, consulting, management, and finance. Before entering the investment arena, Scott was the CEO of Nasdaq-listed infoUSA (since taken private as “Data Axle”), a leading provider of business and consumer marketing products and services. He led the company to an unprecedented string of consecutive record quarters, growing the company’s market capitalization to roughly $1 billion and helping the company earn recognition as one of Forbes’ “Top 200 Small Companies in America.” Previously, Scott served consumer-focused clients on a wide array of strategic and operational matters as a Partner at McKinsey & Company. His early career also includes experience in the Merger Department of Goldman Sachs and internationally with General Motors. Scott received a B.S., magna cum laude, in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame. He also earned academic honors while receiving an MBA from the Harvard Business School and completed the Executive Education Program at Stanford Law School’s Directors’ College. Scott has served as a National Judge for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year award multiple times, has been quoted in numerous publications (including The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Barron’s, and Forbes), and has lectured at Notre Dame and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Amongst other accolades, Scott was selected by the National Retail Federation as a “Power Player” in 2017. Scott serves on numerous private company boards. In the public domain, he serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of WilliamsSonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) and on the NYSE Board of Advisors. Scott also chairs the Provost’s Leadership Group and serves on the Advisory Council for the Student Athlete at the University of Notre Dame, is Chairman of the Investment Committee and a Trustee of Brunswick School, and a Trustee of the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures. He is also a founding member of the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion. He previously served in the not-for-profit arena as a board member of the American Red Cross of New York and the American Federation of Arts. Scott A. Dahnke Global co-CEO of L Catterton CEO Today USA Awards 2022 - CONNECTICUT - - 33 - INTERNATIONAL PRIVATE EQUITY FIRM OF THE YEAR
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