Jeffrey A. Babener, of Portland, Oregon, Conference Chair and Sponsor, www.mlmlegal.com, is the principal attorney in the law firm of Babener & Associates. He represents leading U.S. and foreign companies in the direct selling industry. He has been a key advisor to such companies as Avon, Amway, Herbalife, Discovery Toys, Nikken, Shaklee, NuSkin, Excel, Usana, Fuller Brush, Cell Tech, Enagic, Sunrider, Melaleuca, Nerium International, etc. He is a frequent lecturer and has been interviewed on the industry, and published, in such publications as Money, Inc., Atlantic Monthly, Success, Entrepreneur, Kiplinger's Personal Finance, Home Office Computing, Business Start-Ups, Direct Selling News Magazine and Money Maker's Monthly. He is editor of the industry publication, Direct Sales Legaline. Mr. Babener is also the author of the books, Tax Guide for MLM/Direct Selling Distributors, Network Marketer's Guide to Success, The MLM Corporate Handbook, Network Marketing: Window of Opportunity and Network Marketing: What You Should Know (used as the college curriculum textbook at Utah Valley State course on network marketing. He is editor of one of most frequented network marketing educational web sites, www.mlmlegal.com. He has served as Chair of more than 70 national conferences on starting and running the direct selling company. He serves on the Lawyers Council and Government Relations Committees of the Direct Selling Association (DSA), and he has served as General Counsel and on the board of the MLMIA (Multilevel Marketing International Association). He has lectured at major industry trade meetings and at such educational institutions as the Univ. of Illinois, University of Texas, University of Houston, etc. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California Law School where he served as an editor of the USC Law Review, followed by the appointment as a law clerk to Hon. David Williams, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
A number of Babener & Associates client companies have been success stories over the last several decades, including several billion dollar and NYSE companies such as Avon, Amway, Herbalife, NuSkin and Usana. Other successful companies, to which the law firm has provided varying level of advisory, have included Melaleuca, Nikken, Enagic, Discovery Toys, Amazon Herbs, TriVita, Nerium International, Shaklee, PrePaid Legal, Tupperware, Primerica, Arbonne, Longaberger, Excel Communications, ACN, etc.
Mr. Babener has served as lead trial counsel for multiple cases on direct selling throughout the U.S. Further background material on direct selling will be found at the website, www.mlmlegal.com, where he is editor.
Michael L. Sheffield is Chairman and CEO of The Sheffield Group Inc., a full service direct sales consulting firm and Chairman Emeritus of the Multi Level Marketing International Association. The Sheffield Group (www.sheffieldnet.com) specializes in start up operations, compensation plan development, distributor recruiting systems and sales tools. The firm also consults on new product concept development including positioning, pricing strategies, marketing and product sales strategies. The Sheffield Group has assisted in over 800 direct selling company start-ups, including 23 of the top 100 MLM/Party Plan companies in the world. In addition, Mike has assisted in numerous special projects for many of the industry’s most prestigious direct selling, MLM and party plan companies. He has been a frequent lecturer on launch strategies for MLM companies at various industry conferences as well as the Schools of Business at Arizona State University, UC Berkley, University of Cincinnati, California Lutheran University, Anderson University and others. He was selected to make a special presentation on behalf of MLM at the Harvard Business School Association symposium. Mike is nationally respected as a leading compensation plan design expert and on the special staff teaching the subject at the University of Illinois at the Chicago Network Marketing Seminar. He has co-authored numerous academic papers on MLM presented at various academic conferences. He has served as sponsor and chief coordinator of various academic/corporate MLM conferences at the University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP). His contributions to these academic conferences earned him the honor of being the subject of a feature article in Success Magazine. Mike has been the MLM Expert for Entrepreneur Magazine and a contributor to the Entrepreneur Magazine training manual teaching how to start a successful MLM company. He can be contacted at www.sheffieldnet.com.
Dan Lundell of Scottsdale Arizona, is President of The Sheffield Group. He brings a background. of successfully founding a major nutritional supplement direct selling company, to his work at Sheffield on capital formation, operations, technology, mergers and acquisitions and strategic planning.
Jerry Reynolds and Wayne Hinkle. Reynolds , is founder and President of Trinity Software of Dallas, Texas. Hinkle is V.P. of Sales of Trinity Software of Dallas, Texas. Trinity is a leading technology solutions provider to network marketing companies.
Robert Proctor is President of MultiSoft Corporation, a veteran provider of MLM Software to the Network Marketing Industry for over 25 years. With offices in the USA, Europe and Asia MultiSoft Corporation provides turn-key and custom MLM software packages from start-ups to mature companies with a focus on "Internationalized" MLM software. Robert has worked with hundreds of companies around the globe and has been involved in nearly every aspect the network marketing industry for 16 years as a developer, designer, distributor, owner, operator and provider to the industry. Robert has built down-line organizations exceeding 50,000 customers and 6,000 distributors. Robert has a diverse background that includes public speaking, radio & television, advertising and marketing, business law, accounting & finance, banking, sales, customer service, compensation plan evaluation, network operations, programming, design and management.
Robert Butwin, of Santa Rosa, California, is the consummate MLM professional. He has built and led large distributor organizations. He is highly respected in the MLM corporate community and juggles his distributor schedule with duties as a mentor on recruiting to corporate management of many leading companies. He is the author of the highly acclaimed Street Smart Networking, available in bookstores everywhere.
Alfred White is a Senior Management Consultant for Hamilton LaRonde & Associates of San Diego, California and Vancouver, Canada. Mr. White has extensive international experience. For the last twenty-two years, Mr. White has been a management and marketing consultant to the direct selling, multilevel marketing and network marketing industries. Mr. White's experience includes more than 200 assignments with a wide range of companies both domestic and international. He is highly regarded for his expertise in operations management and compensation plans. Mr. White designed the PDX computerized system for structuring new MLM companies. The PDX system is a very effective system that can bring a company from concept to fully operational at considerable savings in time and money. Above all Mr. White has a love for the MLM/Network marketing industry and devotes time and energy developing systems for the entrepreneur to be the owner of their own network marketing company. He is a featured writer of articles in national journals on the subject of network marketing.
Scott Fitzpatrick, Montreal, is Nuvei’s Direct Selling in-house expert with two decades of experience in payment processing and merchant services for the Direct Selling industry. Nuvei is the first-ever community of payment experts, providing fully-supported payment solutions. Nuvei works with Network Marketing and Direct Selling companies, supporting them with the technology, expertise, and customer service, backed by a full-service, globally connected platform.
Sean Eggert is the CEO of Hanna Shea Executive Search. Hanna Shea executive Search has been in business since 2007 and services the Direct Selling industry exclusively. Hanna Shea works with clients domestically and internationally of all age and sizes, from start-ups to companies like Isagenix, Beachbody, and Herbalife. They have helped to build out the executive teams for over a hundred of the industries top organizations over the years. Hanna Shea specialize in working closely with their clients to identify the corporate hiring needs and then going out and finding, attracting and getting hired some of the industries top talent.
Sandy Elsberg, of Orange County, California, is one of the most successful and admired distributors in the MLM world. She has led huge sales networks over the years. She is sought out frequently by MLM companies and distributor groups to speak and train. She is the author of the best seller, Bread Winner, Bread Baker.
Clifton Jolley, Ph.D., of Dallas, Texas, is President of Advent Communications and has provided communications products and consulting to leaders in network marketing for more than 15years, in addition to teaching communications at the university level both in the United States and abroad. His innovation and skill have been heralded in the Atlantic Monthly, Success Magazine, Wave 3, and numerous other national publications and broadcasts. He has been a frequent contributor to leading magazines and has acted as media spokesman for such major companies as A.L. Williams, Home Shopping Network, Nokia, Sunrider, Quorum, Nikken, Oxyfresh, Network 2000, and dozen of others. His skill in crisis intervention and media relations has been credited with _rescuing_ dozens of Advent clients from media scrutiny. Dr. Jolley's company is known for state-of-the art graphics production, including distributor kits and manuals and Web site production. Advent Communications also provides its clients award-winning video production, executive communications and distributor programs.
Brian Palmer, CEO of Krato Technology. Krato focuses on changing distributor behavior, and driving productivity and retention through Gamification. After 5 years with technology giant, Cisco, Brian brought his expertise to the direct selling industry, including founding and acting as CEO for a major direct selling company in the jewelry field.
The Next Starting and Running the Successful MLM Company Conference
Las Vegas, Nevada
Eligible attendance: Limited to Executives of Existing or Startup MLM Companies.
We advise in the areas of marketing, Federal Drug Administration (FDA), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), trademarks, regulatory, international expansion, sales tax, distributor relationships, vendor relationships, and so much more.
Babener & Associates advises MLM companies on a wide range of legal matters as well as serving as an important informed resource on the MLM/network marketing/direct selling industry.
Browse hundreds of articles on distributor education, MLM company ownership, the legal environment, and so many more topics on our article directory page.