Charkit's Hinnant Receives Award

Charkit's Hinnant Receives Award

DARIEN, Conn.--Charles Hinnant, president of Charkit Chemical Corp., was presented withthe Eugene B. Humphrey Award for Small Chemical Business Entrepreneur of the Year at arecent American Chemical Society (ACS) meeting in New Orleans.

The award is given to an outstanding entrepreneur who has demonstrated success inbusiness, industry organization involvement and service to the community. Hinnant foundedCharkit in 1982, and the company has continued to grow, reaching $40 million in sales in1998. During this period, Charkit has expanded its capabilities into specialtymanufacturing by obtaining interests in Optima Chemical Group, Diversitec Corp. and ArranChemical Comp.

Pharmavite Names COO

MISSION HILLS, Calif.--Pharmavite Corp, manufacturer and marketer of nutritionalsupplements, including Nature Made and Nature's Resource, announced that Brent Bailey hasjoined the company as chief operating officer. In his new position, Bailey will focus ondeveloping Pharmavite's overall market share and brand position, strengthening internaloperation, increasing revenues and profitability and driving the development of newproducts and brands. In addition, Bailey will be responsible for managing the day-to-dayoperations of Pharmavite, including the marketing, sales, manufacturing operations,information systems, human resources, regulatory and legal affairs departments.

Natrol Board of Directors Expands

CHATSWORTH, Calif.--Natrol, a manufacturer and marketer of branded dietary supplements,has expanded its board of directors from five members to seven. Former U.S. Senator DennisDeConcini and Kraig Kitchin, president and COO of Premiere Radio Networks, have agreed tofill the two added positions. "Both Senator DeConcini and Kraig Kitchin haveremarkably successful careers," said Elliot Balbert, Natrol's chairman of the board."Both men are respected for their accomplishments and they will add substantialstrength to Natrol as the company seeks to grow. It is a compliment to the entire Natrolfamily that these gentlemen have agreed to serve on our board."

NNFA Names Executive VP-Japan

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.--Hiroya Furuya, a Japanese executive who has worked in theinternational foods and dietary supplement industries for more than 35 years, has beennamed executive vice president of NNFA-Japan. Furuya replaces Shuhei Yoshida, who recentlyresigned. Furuya has served as vice president of membership and director of planning anddevelopment for NNFA-Japan since its inception in March 1999. Furuya is currently thedirector of planning and development of dietary supplements for the API Co. in Tokyo andhas worked at Sumitomo Corp. for 26 years in both a management and a legal capacity.

Ignite Adds New Position

CHANDLER, Ariz.--Ignite Marketing Group, a marketing and public relations company, hasappointed Michael VanderMeersch to the newly created position, "Arbiter ofStyle." VanderMeersch previously worked as marketing design director at John AbateInternational, a personal care manufacturer. He has an extensive background in product andpackage development, as well as in graphic design, tradeshow exhibits and marketing."We're very excited to welcome Michael to the Ignite Marketing team," said EricAnderson, managing partner at Ignite. "He has a solid background in design and issure to enhance our customer's marketing materials. He also has great hair."

Food Merchants Hires VP

BROOMFIELD, Colo.--Bruce Wolk has joined Food Merchants as vice president of sales andmarketing. Wolk previously served as manager and national sales manager for Greene's FarmNatural Foods and grocery director for Mountain Star Marketing, a brokerage company."Bruce brings a wealth of experience and contacts to our company," said vicepresident of Food Merchants, John Engelbrecht. "Bringing him on board will help getus to the next level in our business, which will include broadening and strengthening thedistribution of Food Merchants products."

Organization Changes for OMRI

EUGENE, Ore.--The Organic Material Review Institute (OMRI) announced staff promotionsand the addition of new staff members to help manage the organization's growth of morethan 65 percent each year since its founding in 1997.

Brian Baker has been promoted to policy director after serving as OMRI's technicaldirector since 1997. Emily Brown Rosen has joined the staff as policy director.Previously, Brown Rosen served as technical director for the Northeast Organic FarmingAssociation of New Jersey. Both will share the policy director work of developing andimplementing policies and decision processes directly related to the review of genericmaterials and brand name products. In addition, Cindy Douglas, OMRI's project coordinatorfor the last year, will now oversee the organization's brand name products review. ScottRice will fill the position of project coordinator.

Bosch Names New Product Manager

MINNEAPOLIS--Bosch-TL Systems has appointed Kerry Fillmore as senior product managerfor the cartoning systems division. In his new role, Fillmore will be responsible forBosch cartoning products in the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries. He will alsooversee the expansion of Bosch's market presence into additional manufacturing andconsumer areas. Formerly the vice president of sales at MGS Machine Corporation in MapleGrove, Fillmore was instrumental in the growth of MGS's cartoning products and markets.

Hires and Promotions for SPINS

SAN FRANCISCO--SPINS has announced the appointment of several key positions to theirnatural products information company. Sarah Varney has been promoted to businessdevelopment manager, a new position within the company. Marc Powell has been appointed tocommunications manager and will be responsible for all internal and externalcommunications, as well as assisting domestic and international media concerning thenatural and organic industry. In addition, Anne-Marie McNeil will fill the communicationsassistant position and Dana Parso will join SPINS as an administrative assistant.

Maypro Hires Sales Manager

PURCHASE, N.Y.--Maypro has appointed Martha Reublin as the new sales manager forNutritional Products. Reublin will head the West Coast sales office and will be working tomaintain existing domestic accounts and develop new business.