Los Angeles, CA – January 25, 2016 – ViSalus, a global nutrition and healthy lifestyle company, announced today that its Co-Founder, Blake Mallen, has been promoted to President of the company, effective immediately. In his new role, Mallen will continue to oversee all sales and marketing functions globally, and expand his management responsibilities to include implementing initiatives to further develop the company’s North American and European territories and drive business growth.
“Blake has been a vital asset to the creation and evolution of ViSalus, and I’m honored to be handing off the presidential reins to my fellow Co-Founder and long-time right-hand,” said Ryan Blair, ViSalus Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO. “He possesses a rare blend of creative and innovative passion, with the ability to execute with precision. I look forward to partnering with him to bring even more Vi innovations to life so that we continue to provide our Promoters with the ultimate entrepreneurial vehicle for success.”
During his tenure at ViSalus as Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, Mallen architected a disruptive challenge marketing strategy that propelled the company to over 600% sales growth in one year, including nearly $2 billion in cumulative revenue, becoming one of the most recognized and trusted weight-loss shake brands in North America. He has also been the driving force behind Vi’s advancement in the digital landscape, with cutting-edge technology to power Vi’s international network of independent Promoters. Additionally, his marketing teams have collected dozens of industry awards for social and digital strategy, video production, and even a handful of world records.
“Over my career I’ve been honored to build ViSalus, a brand that has reinvented and redefined itself over the years to achieve tremendous growth,” said Mallen. “Since our inception, we have transformed millions of lives by helping people achieve their health and fitness goals. Today, our internal team is laser-focused on transforming many areas of our brand experience, to elevate our game and raise the bar in the market.”
Mallen brings more than 15 years of marketing experience, a unique knowledge of technology trends, as well as a 360-degree perspective to ViSalus, which he founded with Blair and Nick Sarnicola in 2005. Having spent equal parts of his career in the field as a Promoter, leading from the corporate side to create an entrepreneurial startup, and building that company’s global infrastructure to support millions of Customers, his expertise spans the full spectrum from vision, to strategy, to execution. Mallen’s values-based leadership style is focused on fostering culture and community to support the company’s founding pillars of transforming Life, Health, and Prosperity around the world.
“Blake’s vibrant energy is contagious and his talent to motivate, ignite and amaze, make him an approachable and respected industry thought-leader who we are now lucky to call our President,” said Nick Sarnicola, Vi Co-Founder and Global Ambassador. “The Vi field leadership is excited to benefit from his expertise, and further strengthen the best corporate-field partnership in the industry.”
ViSalus has revolutionized the weight-loss, health and fitness industry, with the introduction of its flagship program, The Challenge, in 2005. In late 2014, Mallen, Blair, and Sarnicola bought back controlling interest in ViSalus, and have since guided the company to rapid international expansion and product line growth. The company’s footprint now extends to 15 global markets with the recent expansion into 12 European countries to complement the North American markets of the U.S., Canada and Jamaica. The past 14 months have seen the launch of 4 dynamic new products: NEON Energy Drink®, Nutra-Bars, Vi Bites®, and the just launched, Vi Shape Superfood Shake™.
Today, ViSalus has constructed one of the most successful worldwide networks of Promoters and Customers aimed at making healthy living attainable, sustainable and suitable.
About ViSalus
ViSalus is a healthy lifestyle company committed to transforming life, health and prosperity around the world by creating meaningful connections, supporting physical transformations, and promoting entrepreneurial freedom. Through its flagship program, The Challenge, ViSalus has developed a leading platform for achieving weight-loss, health and fitness results. With NEON Energy Drink®, Vi is quickly revolutionizing the booming energy drink market with a top-shelf option that fits into Vi’s healthy lifestyle. Founded in 2005, ViSalus develops innovative weight-management products, functional foods, energy drinks and nutritional supplements that it markets and sells direct-to-consumers through an international sales force of independent Promoters. ViSalus offers its products in North America under the ViSalus® brand and in Europe under the Vi™ brand. ViSalus is headquartered in Troy, Michigan, with offices in Los Angeles and throughout Europe. For more information about ViSalus, please visit Vi.com and follow the Vi-Community on Facebook (Facebook.com/Vi), Instagram and Twitter (@ViSalus).