OmniActive Health Technologies, based in Morristown, NJ, announcedJohan Kamphuisas the president of Global Business. Kamphuis, who has 34 years experience in the food and dietary supplement industries and was most recently executive vice president at Bioriginal, will be operating out of the EU and focus on “targeted growth segments and strengthen global presence.

Washington D.C.-based Institute forNatural Medicine (INM), the leading not-for-profit naturopathic organization, has added two new board members:Jaclyn Chasse, N.D. andPattie Ptak.INM aims to transform the U.S. healthcare system by increasing public awareness to naturopathic medicine and prove the benefits of natural medicine. Chasse, who is the president of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP), a sister organization to the INM, and Ptak, owner of the Southern California-based Practice on Purpose, a marketing and practice development firm for doctors and other health entrepreneurs, have both been appointment to a three-year term on the institute’s board of directors.

ChromaDex, based in Irvine, CA, a provider of wellness and nutritional ingredients, recently appointedSteven D. Rubinto its board of directors. Rubin has previously served as OPKO Health Inc.’s executive vice president since May 2007. He also has experience as a lawyer, and is a member of The Frost Group, LLC, a private investment firm. Rubin currently serves on the board of directors for nine other companies including VBI Vaccines Inc., Non-Invasive Monitoring Systems Inc., BioCardia Inc., Castle Brands Inc., among others.

Bloomfield, NJ-basedWorld Finer Foods (WFF), leading distributor of more than 1,000 premium food, beverage, and personal care products, has chosenWilliam Flynnas its chief financial officer. Flynn is a senior executive with more than 20 years of experience in leading global finance teams. Flynn served as vice president and controller, before being appointed senior vice president and chief financial officer for Sharp Americas. Previously, Flynn was international controller at AT&T managing day-to-day operations and a worldwide staff.

In Memoriam

Sue Jane Nicholson(October 13, 1956—January 27, 2017) was born on Long Island, in Glen Cove, New York, the youngest of six, with three sisters and two brothers. Sue earned A.S. and B.S. teaching degrees and taught kindergarten before gravitating toward the natural products industry where she worked at natural foods stores Provisions and Earth’s Bounty on Long Island before moving to Vermont, where Sue managed Llama Toucan and Crow, the natural food store serving Brattleboro, VT.

In 1998, Sue joined my company, Retail Insights, a natural products industry consultant based in Brattleboro and in 2002, helped integrate the Danny Wells Nutrition Newsletter, which we had acquired, into our marketing services to independent natural products retailers. As director of research for what was to become the Natural Insights for Well Being nutrition newsletter, Sue helped refine and enhance the format of presenting groundbreaking nutritional research monthly to the public through the independent natural products retail channel. A lover of words and of writing, Sue developed the concept of “The Language of Health.” One day, while I was writing the final copy of an Alzheimer’s disease study for the newsletter, the headline I had written was, “Don’t Forget.” From down the hall, Sue came in and said that, while the 24-hour news cycle depends on tragedy and catastrophe, our nutrition newsletter was not that. It had to be the opposite of fear and tension, so that readers — most of whom were seeking answers to serious health concerns — would feel better and more hopeful after reading what we had written. Thus was born “The Language of Health.” I changed my headline to “Remember,” and the newsletter reflects Sue’s Language of Health to this day. In 2015, after caring for her mother for four years, Sue was diagnosed with cancer, and fought for 20 months, hoping the tumors would shrink to operable size. Sue was surrounded by friends, family, and loving husband, Dan Dearth, as Sue passed peacefully, leaving a legacy of positive thought, and the language of health. Jay Jacobowitz

Elwood Richard

NOW Foods, based in Bloomingdale, IL has announced that its founder Elwood Richard has passed away from a prolonged battle with cancer. Richard founded NOW Foods in 1968, but has long been involved with the natural products industry. His father Paul Richard bought Fearn Soya in 1948, developing the first protein dietary supplement. Armed with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Monmouth University and graduate studies in Physical Chemistry and Biochemistry at Indiana University, Richard stepped in to run Fearn Soya in 1960 after his father’s passing. In 1962, he opened the Health House, his first natural health food store which is now called The Fruitful Yield and operates in 13 locations.

While Richard retired as CEO in 2005, he continued to be involved in the business as as NOW Board of Directors Chair, and a member of the NOW Advocacy Team, the NOW Strategy Team and the NOW Environmental Team. Richard was remained active on the Managing Board of the Natural Health Research Institute, an organization he founded that is committed to “informing consumers, scientists, the media, policymakers and legislators about scientific evidence on the usefulness and cost-effectiveness of diet, supplements and a healthy lifestyle to improve health and wellness.”

“His passion in defending consumer choice in the industry with logic and with scientific knowledge he had as a physical chemist came through many, many times,” said NOW CEO Jim Emme in a press release. “One of the legacies he left is the Golden Rule, treating others as you want to be treated. He lived that every day that I knew him.”

Richard’s impact on the industry is clearly significant and his accomplishments were honored with numerous awards including, induction into the New Hope Hall of Legends, the Natural Products Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the Nutrition Business Journal’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the NNFA Crusader Award, and most recently the American Herbal Products Association Visionary Award.

With news of his passing, the industry is in mourning. Heather Wainer, publisher of WholeFoods Magazine had this to say: “We are saddened to hear the news of Elwood’s passing. Since I first started working in the natural products industry, I have heard countless stories about his passion and contributions that, I know, continued until the end. He will be truly missed by all. We feel blessed to have known and learned for him.” Richard is survived by his wife Betty, daughter Sharon (Richard) Wong and sons Dan and David, five grandchildren and one great grandchild.

Published in WholeFoods Magazine May 2017