Nature’s Sunshine Products, a natural health and wellness company engaged in the manufacture and direct selling of nutritional and personal care products, has announced that Chairman and CEO Gregory L. Probert will retire as CEO after transitioning his responsibilities to a successor to be identified by the Board of Directors.
Gregory L. Probert
Probert will continue in his roles as CEO and chairman of the board, and as chairman will be deeply involved in the selection and on-boarding of his successor. The board of directors has engaged a leading national executive search firm to identify Probert’s successor as CEO. Upon transitioning his responsibilities to his successor, Probert will continue to serve as chairman of the company’s board.
“Greg has been an invaluable part of Nature’s Sunshine during his tenure,” said Mary Beth Springer, board member and lead independent director. “He initially joined the company as vice chairman of the board and later stepped into the CEO role. He has enhanced the organization at every level, adding key leadership talent, investing in infrastructure and navigating new growth opportunities. On behalf of the Board of Directors, we want to thank him for his unwavering commitment to this company and look forward to continuing to work with him on the board to drive value for our shareholders.”
“We are fortunate to have had Greg lead our incredible company over the last five years,” said Kristine Hughes, founder and member of the Board of Directors. “From day one, he has not only embraced Nature’s Sunshine’s purpose of life transformation and commitment to unmatched product quality, but he has enhanced our efforts, our products, our science and our quality leadership. The strength of our business, evident in our 46-year history, is the great distributors and associates across our global organization who strive to fulfill our mission and purpose. Greg’s contributions have added to a foundation with a long history and we are confident that we will continue to build upon our legacy of nutrition leadership.”
Probert was appointed CEO in October 2013. He has served as executive chairman since January 2013. Prior to this, he served as executive vice chairman since June 2011, and served as an independent consultant to the company from October 2010 to June 2011.
“It has been a privilege serving Nature’s Sunshine over the last seven years, both on the board and as CEO,” said Probert. “We have considerable opportunity in front of us, and I will remain committed to supporting our executive and governance teams to ensure we are well positioned to capitalize on all our opportunities. I look forward to continuing to serve this great company as we continue to drive value into the future.”
Nature’s Sunshine also announced it expects net sales for the first quarter of 2018 to range between $86.5 million and $87.5 million, representing 4.1 percent to 5.3 percent growth compared to net sales of $83.1 million in the first quarter of 2017. The year-over-year growth was primarily the result of growth in the company’s Synergy business unit, growth in NSP Russia, Central and Eastern Europe and a moderated rate of growth in NSP China, partially offset by a decline in NSP Americas.
