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XanGo LLC has named Larry V. Macfarlane as the company’s newest Chief Marketing Officer.

MacFarlane comes to the company with over two decades of experience in the direct sales industry, having previously worked for several industry powerhouses including NuSkin Enterprises.

Larry Macfarlane has also served as President of Big Planet, since September 2003. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Macfarlane worked for Wind River Systems from 1998 to 2003, where he served as General Manager of network infrastructure and digital consumer markets. Previously, he served in executive positions at several high-tech companies, including President and CEO of Zinc Software, Inc. from 1994 to 1998, Vice President and General Manager of Computer Equipment Warehouse’s Utah region from 1992 to 1994, and President of Computers Made Easy from 1985 to 1992.

Macfarlane will be responsible for leading the company with new marketing and business initiatives. Macfarlane will work with others in the XanGo marketing team to lead all aspects of marketing including product management, marketing and branding.

In his previous role at NuSkin, Macfarlane served as a division president where he was responsible for developing new opportunities and helping to enhance the value of the NuSkin brand.

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Brian B. Carmack has just joined the XanGo team becoming the company’s newest Senior Vice President, International of the mangosteen beverage company.

Carmack brings with him well over a decade of experience in the network marketing industry. Prior to joining the XanGo team, he served as Vice President of Business Development/International Sales and Marketing for Melaleuca. While at Melaleuca, Carmack led the company to six consecutive years of growing international sales.

Along with his experience in the network marketing world, Carmack also played active roles in the sports marketing and merchandising industry, most notable with the National Football League where he worked with the retail advisory board. Carmack was even named one of the “Top 50 most influential people in sporting goods” by Sports Style magazine.

“Brian is a seasoned and strategic executive with the perfect skill set and track record within international business operations, sales and marketing to lead XanGo into its next phase of strong international growth and expansion,” said Craig Hale, President of XanGo, LLC. “With operations in 23 international markets, we’re at a critical point in our evolution as a company, and Brian’s appointment will allow us to meet our distributors’ needs in a way that timely addresses existing market growth and strategic new market openings.”

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This week, the Utah Supreme court heard arguments from a group of investors who are challenging a ruling that dismissed a case they had filed in 2006 and 2007 against six of the founding members of XanGo, LLC.

The investors, identified in documents as Angel Investors, LLC and as “a few neighbors and friends” are a group of friends and neighbors who say they pooled together their savings to invest in the nutritional juice company. Apparently, the Angel Investors grew concerned about the way the founders were spending money.

The legal issue that the justices will consider is whether 4th District Judge Fred Howard rightfully dismissed the case and correctly applied Utah Rules of Civil Procedure when the case was originally brought before a judge.

While original court documents concerning the complaints are sealed, the attorney for the investors, Mary Anne Wood, said the investors “became concerned by evidence of extravagant lifestyle and compensation” of the six founders — Aaron Garrity, Bryan Davis, Gary Hollister, Gordon Morton, Joseph Morton and Kent Wood. Investors, uneasy with the usage of investor funds began questioning spending. It was then that XanGo’s founding members apparently began buying minority interest from the original investors by taking loans from XanGo, instead of the company buying back the interests. The investors want more of the profits distributed to them.

14% percent of the company is owned by minority investors, the remaining 86% percent is controlled by the six founding members. The Angel Investors who brought forth the suit apparently only own 1% percent of the company at most.
The suit was originally dismissed when it was ruled that the Angel investors did not represent the other minority investors, and those other founding members signed affidavits saying that they did not wish to be involved in the suit.

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XanGo announced this week that Scott Smith, the company’s Senior Vice President will take the helm of the new Distributor Relations Department. The new department will be responsible for all aspects of the relationship between the company and its independent distributors.  No word on whether this will also include Xango’s new skincare line Glimpse.

The Distributor Relations Department will be comprised of several smaller departments, each offering a new service to distributors to help empower them and their business. The new departments, which Smith will oversee, will include Customer Service, Market Research, Distributor training and Elite Services.

XanGo hopes that the creation of the new department will not only aid the distributors, but help the company better understand what their distributors need in order to build and grow their business. XanGo wants to provide new resources that will give distributors all the tools and knowledge they need to be successful. .

“Scott and I agree that our distributors’ success must be at the center of any decisions, innovations and improvements that we make at XanGo,” said CEO Robert Conlee. “As we continue to grow and evolve into a multi-national, multi-billion dollar company, our ability to keep pace with our distributors’ needs and to maintain and improve upon the quality and outcomes of our efforts is crucial to reach our goals.”

Smith has been with XanGo for three years. During that time he has served as Chief Information Officer, helping to develop a new IT system as the company continues to grow around the world. Smith’s has an extensive background in the direct selling industry, one that not only includes technology and customer service, but also experience with building strong management teams to help provide the company and its employees superior service.

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