User:IBOFightback/Amway - A Leadership History

A Very Brief Early History

Neal Maaskant, an older second cousin of Jay Van Andel, sponsored Jay and Rich DeVos on August 29, 1949 as distributors for California-based, Nutrilite Products, Inc. The next month they incorporated as the Ja-Ri Corporation.

The name “Nutrilite” first appeared in 1939. Before that time it had been The California Vitamin Company. The company's founder, Dr. Carl Rehnberg, created the world's first multi-vitamin in the 1930s. In 1945, Nutrilite Products, Inc. became the first company to use multi-level marketing. At that time Mytinger & Casselbury, Inc. became the exclusive distributors of Nutrilite vitamins. By 1958, they (M&C) were experiencing increasingly serious management/distribution problems.

That summer, Jay and Rich decided they needed to develop a product line on the side to protect their distributors. Their first product was called, “Frisk”. It is now know as, L.O.C., short for Liquid Organic Concentrate. The organic ingredient is biodegradable coconut oil. L.O.C. is a very versatile cleaner and is still a mainstay. It is one of Amway's many concentrated products. Amway is a world recognized leader in environmentally friendly products.

In the fall, all the Ja-Ri distributors voted to become the American Way Association (AWA).*

Note: *“The Articles of Incorporation” document was signed by: Jay Van Andel, Rich DeVos, Walter Bass, Fred Hansen, Jere Dutt, Eleanor Teitsma, Dale Crosby and James Koster. (A man named James Koster lives in/near Grand Rapids, MI and is the CEO of XS Powder, LLC, a company that does business with Amway.) All, plus Joe Victor, were on the first board of directors of the AWA.

In early 1959, Amway Corporation came into official being. The Amway Distributors Association (ADA)* was created to protect distributors from Amway ever changing the deal, like what was happening at “Nutrilite”. Amway broke away in 1961. However, Jay and Rich never forgot their love for “XX”. In 1972, they bought controlling interest in its manufacturer. In 1994, they assumed sole ownership.

Note. *The 1960-61 ADA Board of Directors included Jay and Rich and the following distributors: Neal Maaskant, Les Chapin, Walter Bass, Fred Hansen, Joe Victor, Jere Dutt, Evangeline Krause, Roland Diehl, William Nichols, Wes Hursh, and Eleanor Teitsma (secretary). All but Maaskant, Bass, and Hursh would go on to become at least Diamonds.

Distributors are now referred to as IBOs. The ADA has evolved into the Independent Business Owners Association International, or IBOAI.

Amway expanded into Canada in 1962. Australia became its first overseas market in 1971. Other markets have opened on an almost yearly basis since then. Its products can now be bought and sold in over 60 countries and territories. About 90% of Amway's business is done through its overseas affiliates. As of 2012, Amway is the world's largest direct seller. In addition, Nutrilite is the world's leading brand of vitamins, minerals, and dietary supplements.

Artistry Cosmetics had its beginning in 1968, as Edith Rehnborg Cosmetics. Edith was the wife of Nutrilite's founder. The name was changed to Artistry in 1972. Artistry is among the top five prestige cosmetics in the world and the only one marketed through direct sales.

Whether it is Amway, Nutrilite, or Artistry, quality is never expensive.

The Maaskant Legacy

Illinois Founders Emeralds, Neal and Charlotte Maaskant (both long deceased)* received the pass-up income from the Ja-Ri distributorship. The Charlotte Maaskant Trust now receives and disburses it.

Note. *Neal (This is the correct spelling of his name.) was born Cornelus in 1894 and passed away in April, 1967. Charlotte was born in 1901 and passed away in May, 1982.

Leg 1 - Jack and Jean Maaskant

Neal's first leg begins with his brother, Emeralds, Jack and Jean Maaskant. This leg is responsible for a good portion of Amway’s Asian, Australian, and Eastern European business. There are a great many Crowns and above in their downline. Names like: Ankasa, Beaird, Dornan, Nakajima, Nusshold, Sala, Yena, Zhou, just to name a few!

Down line can be found building contractor and Crown Ambassadors, Dallas and Betty Beaird. They have nine legs with Diamonds or above in them. Five of those legs have Crowns or above in them. Four became Crowns in 1980. Dallas was sponsored by his brother, Crowns, Wayne and Kay Beaird.

One Diamond away from Dallas and Betty are Founders Crown Ambassadors, Jim and Nancy Dornan. The Dornans are Platinum or above in many countries. They are Diamond or above in seven. They have four U.S. Diamond legs, including their son and daughter-in-law. A new legacy begins! Jim and Nancy Dornan are Founders Council Members. They are the founders of Network 21. It is one the world's largest and most diverse affiliations of Amway IBOs.

Leg 2 - Mel & Shirley Kamstra

Double Diamonds, Mel & Shirley Kamstra are from Illinois. They signed up about 1963.

Leg 3 - Jay and Betty Van Andel and Rich and Helen DeVos

Jay and Rich founded Ja-Ri Corporation before marrying Betty and Helen. Each couple had four children. Jay has passed away and Rich is retired but still maintains an office. Some of their children took over responsibilities running the business. Steve Van Andel has replaced his older sister Nan as Chairman of the Board. Doug DeVos has replace his older brother Dick as President.

The Van Andel/DeVos Legacy

Leg 3.1 - George and Eleanor Teitsma

Ja-Ri's largest leg starts with George and Eleanor Teitsma. Rich DeVos sponsored Ellie, one of his Nutrilite customers, in 1949, just before he sponsored Walter Bass. She served as treasurer of the ADA Board for 17 years. As a Diamond, Ellie was still retailing in her 80s and passed away in 2006, at age 91. For a “shy” person, Ellie sure loved traveling the country and talking to her downline audiences about Amway! They sponsored a Founders Emerald who has three Crown Ambassador legs. One is Barry Chi and Holly Chen. Their organization is reported to do about half of Amway's volume. Another is Foo Howe Kean. He is Founders Triple Diamond or above in four different markets.

Leg 3.2 - Sterling and Evangeline Krause

Ja-Ri’s second leg started in1959 with Sterling and Evangeline Krause, and has several Crowns and above (Ross, Marks, Janz, Schmidt). After going into into partnership with their son and daughter-in-law, Roger and Ruth Krause, they became the Crowns, Krause & Krause. Roger later left the partnership to become an Amway executive. Evangeline passed away on March 3, 2011. Her grandson now own and operate the business.

Leg 3.3 - Roland and Edith Diehl

Diamonds, Roland and Edith Diehl moved from Michigan to Wisconsin. Down line, they have a large, California-based Diamond group.

Leg 3.4 - Bill and Val Nichols

Bill Nichols was a California Nutrilite distributor before moving to Pennsylvania and joining Amway in 1959. He was one of Amway's original 13 front-line distributors. Five of those distributorships became Emerald or above. The other eight never made it to the Direct Distributor level. This kind of discredits the excuses: “If only I had gotten in at the beginning.” “If only I had a sponsor like Rich DeVos.” Eight never went Direct! What ever happened to Wes Hursh, the voice of those eight “groups”? The Nichols have a new Crown leg, Peter and Barbara Matz.

Leg 3.5 - Siegfried Tillotson (from Nutrilite)

This leg actually belonged to the AWA founders. It is one of the five Nutrilite legs that joined Amway.* Colorado Emerald, Seigfried Tillotson was at the beginning of this leg. (If still alive he would be well over 100 years old.) He also had a Crown leg, Stan and Ruth Evans.

Leg 3.6 - Walter and Evelyn Bass

Emerald (and Dale Carnegie instructor), Walter Bass has Ja-Ri’s second largest leg (and largest U.S. leg). Walter and Evelyn joined in 1950 but did not reach Emerald until 36 years later, in 1986, when their daughter became their third DD leg. Walter had two Diamond legs at the time of his death. Skip and Susan Ross bought the business from their heirs, Phyllis Chesebro and her daughter, Deb. They were Amway’s first family business to go four deep!

The Basses sponsored Fred and Bernice Hansen. Both the Basses (from Illinois) and the Hansens (from Ohio) moved to Michigan to be closer to “the boys”, Jay and Rich. Fred, in fact, was Walter's barber.

Bernice went Crown after Fred's death. She had two Crown legs. A personal new Founders Double Diamond qualified in Japan just before she passed away on September 27, 2012. She was so well respected that she will always be known as “The First Lady of Amway”.

Skip Ross, a DD who was sponsored by Bob Stonelake, married Susan Hansen and they later went into partnership with Bernice. Susan’s sister, Karen and her husband, Jerry De Blaay joined the partnership, after first going Direct in 1993, on their own, under Susan. (A third daughter, Marianne, married to Wayne Briggs, was a long-time Amway executive.)

In 1952 they sponsored an Ohio milkman, Joe and Helyne Victor. Their son, Ron and his wife Carol joined them to go Crown. Later, it was Ron and Debra, who have since retired. (Ron and his parents have passed away.) Their granddaughter now runs the business. They have four legs with Triple Diamonds and above.

Joe and Helyne also sponsored their son, Jody “Marker Man” Victor. Jody and (Linda) Kathy Victor are highly respected Crowns (and IBOAI leaders) in their own right. Kathy was the first woman to be elected chairman of the IBOAI. And, Jody is a long-time IBOAI Board member and past chairman.

Jody and Kathy went Crown in 1981, two years after Joe and Helyne did. They are also Founders Emeralds in South America, where, they personally sponsor Bill and Peggy Britt, Jim and Nancy Dornan, and Tim Foley. Foley is South America's First Crown. Waiting in the wings are two of Linda's sons, Founders Platinums, Joseph and Steve, with wives Kelli and Marcia. Steve was the first 3rd generation IBO to reach Platinum.

Jody recently received his most important honor, The Joe Victor Leadership Award, named after his late father. Together, Jody and Kathy have received numerous honors, including achieving Legacy Diamond Level status.*

Note: *Legacy Diamond Level was created in 2011. Those individuals who have personally attended 30 Diamond Clubs are honored and edified by getting to go to the head of the line at Achievers and Diamond Club functions. (Of the 400+ who had qualified as Diamonds by the end of 1981, very few have met the “personal attendance” qualification. Many are deceased.)

The 2010 Diamond Club featured: 1) The Lifetime Achievement Award (50 years): the Hansen, Victor, and Dutt families. 2) The Hall of Fame Award (40 years of operation): The Andrews, Beaird, Britt, Campbell, Dornan, Janz, Marsh, Matz, Ross, Strehli, Williams, and Yager families. 3) The Royal Diamond Award (for qualifying for Diamond Club for 30 or more years) was presented to: Dallas Beaird, Bill and Jan Campbell, John and Jennie Belle Crowe, Jim and Nancy Dornan, Jody and Gina Dutt, Jim and Sharon Janz, Peter and Barbara Matz, Paul and Leslie Miller, Ron and Georgia Lee Puryear, Chuck and Jean Strehli, Jody and Kathy Victor, and Dexter and Birdie Yager. Others, like Art Charlton, Bernice Hansen, Evangeline Krause, and Dan William were too ill to attend. (They are all now deceased.)

Joe and Helyne's largest leg begins with personally sponsored Crowns, Jere and Eileen Dutt, Amway’s first Diamond and Double Diamond Direct Distributors. They made Diamond five years after Amway's inception. Jere and Eileen have seven legs with Diamonds and above in them; two of them Crown or above. The Dutts passed away leaving the business in the capable hands of their son and partner, Jody and Gina Dutt, who have retired. It is now run by their grandson. They have two crown legs.

The Marsh Legacy

Down line from the Dutts was (deceased) Diamond, Ted Elias. He had to follow an Amway supplied lead from Ohio to Rome, New York to sponsor a policeman, Crown Ambassadors, Charlie and Elsie Marsh. (Charlie passed away on April 26, 2010. His business is now owned and run by Jon and Dee Marsh.) They were Amway’s first Triple Diamonds and Crowns. They have three Crown Ambassador legs.

Leg 3.6.1 - Bill and Jan Campbell and Dan and Bunny Williams

Charlie personally sponsored chemical engineer and Triple Diamonds, Bill & Jan Campbell. Bill was the first “professional” to “make it big” in Amway. They have three Crown legs.

Bill sponsored his brother-in-law, Crown Ambassadors, Dan and Bunny Williams. Dan, an engineer like Bill, was a plant manager in Louisiana. The Williams have 10 legs with Diamonds and above in them; three with Crowns and above.

After developing a strong business with four Diamond legs in Louisiana and another in Georgia, they relocated to the airlines hub of Dallas, Texas to further develop their business. The Williams later moved to Santa Barbara, California to help develop their western U.S. business. While doing so, Dan also developed another Emerald leg, which had two Diamond legs.

Dan passed away on August 9, 2012. He will be remembered as a great teacher and storyteller. Of all his honors, he was most proud to be the recipient of the 2004 Jere Dutt Lifetime Achievement Award. Dan had three Crown legs.

Leg 3.6.1.1 - Dr. Peter and Eva Mueller-Meerkatz

Williams sponsored an Executive Diamond, who sponsored a Diamond, who sponsored a Diamond who sponsored an Emerald that moved to Germany, became Germany's second Directs, and ended up sponsoring a PhD university professor, Founders Crown Ambassadors, Dr. Peter and Eva Mueller-Meerkatz.

The Mueller-Meerkatz are affectionately known as, M-M. Their organization is responsible for developing most of Amway’s European business. The M-Ms are qualified as Platinum or above in six countries. As of 2008, they had over 450 Diamonds and above in their organization, with 27 (including themselves, in other countries) of their legs having Diamonds and above. There are more if you include those they foster sponsor. They have three, personal, Crown Ambassador legs.

In 2001 Dr. Peter and Eva Mueller-Meerkatz, along with Kauko Nakajma (of Japan), Barry Chi and Holly Chen (of Taiwan and China), and Leonard and Ester Kim (of Korea) co-founded the annual spring Global TOP4 Convention. Over one thousand of their top leaders from around the world attend. More organizations have since affiliated with them.

Leg 3.6.1.2 - Ron and Georgia Lee Puryear

Founders Crowns, Ron and Georgia Lee Puryear have four Diamond legs. Three are Crowns and above. They are the founders of the World Wide Dream Builders.

One of their Diamonds sponsored a couple who returned to Korea to build their business there. Founders Crown Ambassadors Leonard and Ester Kim have over 400 Diamonds and above. They have a new Crown in the U.S.

Leg 3.6.2 - Dexter and Birdie Yager

Perhaps Marsh's largest leg is Founders Crown Ambassadors, Dexter and Birdie Yager. These New Yorkers soon found North Carolina more to their liking. They have 12 legs with Diamonds and above. Two of their personal Diamond legs are from New York. (They have since moved further south, to Florida.) They have three Crown legs.

Leg 3.6.2.1 - Bill and Peggy Britt

Perhaps Yager’s largest group is down line through Founders Crown Ambassadors, Bill and Peggy Britt. Dex, in North Carolina, foster sponsored Bill for one of his upline in New York. He and Bill had a close relationship for many years. Britt has eight legs with Diamonds and above in them. Two are Crown legs. Bill is sponsored by Amway, India and is a Crown there.

Leg 3.6.2.2 - Tim Foley

Down in depth, Yager has Founders Crown Ambassador, Tim Foley. (Tim was an All-Pro corner back and played on the undefeated Miami Dolphins football team.) He has at least six Diamond legs. As mentioned earlier, he is also a Crown in South America. Tim also has a new Crown in Spain.

With the passing of Bernice Hansen, at the ripe old age of 101, only Rich DeVos is left from the founders. May he live long and prosper!

Further Reading

Only some of the names of Amway's many Crowns appear in this article. If this article has sparked your interest, more can be learned about the people that make up Amway by reading the following books:

List of (Amway) books by Charles Paul Conn

1. The Possible Dream, A Candid Look at Amway

2. The Winner's Circle

3. An Uncommon Freedom, The Amway experience and why it grows.

4. Promises to Keep, The Amway Phenomenon and How it Works