Heroes in Business - Alex Amezquita CFO Herbalife Nutrition over $4Billion global revenue

Episode Date: March 12, 2021

Improving Lives through.. Alex Amezquita CFO Herbalife Nutrition over $4Billion global revenue is interviewed by David Cogan founder of Eliances and host of the Eliances Heroes Show. Broadcast on am and fm network channels, internet radio and online syndication.    

Welcome back to Alliances Heroes, where heroes in business align. To be part of our super from these incredible heroes, ones that are making a difference in the world. Maybe they're hiring people, building companies, helping society. That's what it's all about. And again, thank you for the feedback where I recently had the president of Alibaba on. So make sure that you go to alliances.com. That's E-L-I-A-N-C-E-S.com. It is the only place where entrepreneurs align. Well, I'm so excited.

It's all about getting healthy now during this episode. And we have with us, are you ready for this? Alex Amagita, CFO of Herbalife Nutrition. alex amazgita cfo of herbalife nutrition it's a 5.5 billion dollar company in revenue welcome to the show alex and by the way you could reach alex at i am herbalife nutrition dot com and of course we'll have it on our website at alliancesiances, the only place where entrepreneurs line. All right, Alex, let's jump right in. First of all, you're the CFO of a $5.5 billion company. That's a lot of change to count. It is.

It is. Thanks, David. Thanks for having me on the show. I'm really excited to be here. And how long now have you been with the company? Well, I joined the company in 2017 in the finance role, but actually I got to know them quite well since 2012. I worked previously at a company called Mollison Company, one of the premier investment banks, and Herbalife Nutrition was my client for five years. So I got to know the company and I got to know the senior management team incredibly well over the five years. And so

it was an easy transition. It was an easy answer for me as I moved over into helping Overlife Nutrition in their finance capacity. I mean, did you ever think when you started, when you were on the other side, as they were your client, working with them that you would someday end up being their CFO? that you would someday end up being their CFO? You know, it's been a long and winding road. It certainly wasn't how I drew it up. It certainly wasn't the game plan.

But like most things in life, you sort of do the next best thing that's in front of you. And as you do those next best things in front of you, what's the next best decision you can, you know, opportunities present themselves. And I was really fortunate and blessed to have the opportunity then to to come over to Herbalife Nutrition. And then and then now now in this capacity for the company. And can you believe in the company's been around, what, over 40 years? Correct. 40 years, 1980. And they say, what, 99% of companies don't survive past five years.

You know, the incredible thing about our company is there's Herbalife Nutrition, the company, but what we're really doing is we're supporting tens of thousands of businesses around the world. We're in 95 countries around the world. And if you think about our model, our model, it's based in nutrition. It's based in a healthy, active lifestyle. But what we're really doing is supporting entrepreneurs all around the world in their ability to bring better nutrition to their local community. So it's actually a company that's been growing on the backs of tens of thousands of smaller businesses. And what have you seen from those that are selling your products and that they have been most successful with? You have to have passion.

There has to be real authenticity in what you're doing. Nutrition, or really, I would say this is really generally applicable to anything you're doing. If there's not an authenticity, if there's not a believability in what you're doing is really out there, not only to help yourself, but to help your customers or help the stakeholders that you have involved. If you don't have that authenticity, it's not gonna work out. So the common thread is the passion, caring about what you're actually doing

on a day-to-day basis. Now, Alex, you've also too, and by the way, again, we're talking with Alex, the CFO of Herbalife. You could reach him at IamHerbalifeNutrition.com. And of course, we'll have it on our website at alliances.com. But you've, we'll have it on our website at Alliances.com. But you've advised Fortune 500 companies on M&A for years in that.

What are some of the unique things that you've seen take place in the M&A field with the Fortune 500? Oh, that's a great question. So, you know, I think the most interesting thing is usually those events, whether you're on the sell side, in other words, the company selling, or you're on the buy side, it's usually sort of an end of life situation for one company or the other. They're about to go through the most traumatic experience that they're ever going to have to go through. So seeing how different organizations react to this very tumultuous time has been really a lesson in humanity, candidly. I mean, obviously, there's all the finance underpinning and all the strategic underpinning and all the right business rationale, and those all have to line up. But the human side of things really comes to bear when you're faced with these life-altering transactions. I think the humanity of it is often overlooked.

And that's one thing after going through it time and time again, really, really appreciating that. It gives me a lot of context and has given me a lot of color that I use even today. So what was it like, again, you accept the position as CFO of Herbalife multi-billion dollar company you know you've worked through you've been successful in education MBA from Wharton worked at a number of companies and all that and now here you are CFO large company multi-billion dollar company right I mean that's a big deal in that you sit at your desk, your first day of your office. I mean, what's kind of going through your mind? You know, it just feels with so much energy because if you think about, if I think about

everything that I've done in my career, it's all led up to that moment, right? Everything that I've done in some way or form or fashion has kind of led up to that point. And I feel like I could take that, you know, the 25, about 25 years of a career. And I just get so excited. There's so much opportunity in front of Herbalife Nutrition in the way I could be part of a company. I went back to a company, by the way. It's probably worth noting. I started my career as an engineer. I started my career as being part of something to build, to create, to really provide something to the world, to be part of something bigger. went to Wall Street, but I'm really happy to be back and part of something that can deliver to a bigger purpose. And, you know, we're really helping people live better lives, whether that be through an economic opportunity or just living with better nutrition. And I'm sitting in that first day and the seed, as you point out, and I'm just so excited with the opportunity that now I can bring all that to bear to be part of this bigger picture objectives.

Well, Alex, you know what excites me? Having the lifetime opportunity to interview heroes like you. You're watching and listening to me, David Kogan, host of the Alliances Hero Show. So make sure that you go to alliances.com. That's E-L-I-A-N-C-E-S.com. Why? Because it's the only place where entrepreneurs align. And we have with us, Alex, the CFO of Herbalife Nutrition, $5.5 billion company. So make sure you check him out by going to IamHerbalifeNutrition.com. And again, we'll have that on our website at alliances.com. So Alex, with your successful career in that, what do you attain that to?

What part of it? Was it your upbringing? Was it other influences in your life? I mean, we always want to find out what's that magic thing that makes you so driven. You're an energetic guy. You look extremely healthy. I mean, what is it? Yeah.

So I think you really got to, when you wake up, and I'm not saying there aren't hard days, and I'm not saying that there aren't days when you're, you maybe wish you stayed in bed, but you kind of have, you have to care about what it is that you're doing, right? There has to be a sense of, I'm doing something that I really care about. And when you do that, whatever your role might be, I mean, I think it's, I think if I look back at my career, it was that energy I put into every day that I learned something or I, you know, I got a little bit better or that I was able to do one extra thing that sort of prepared me for where I am today. I think we all can do that. And if, you know, and if that's not necessarily what's happening in your life, then that's when you have to

make, oh, maybe I should pivot left or I should pivot right. But just that experience of constantly being engaged with what you're doing on a daily basis, all of those little micro achievements really build something for long-term success. So to me, that's it. It's just, it's really having a sense of yourself that does this matter to me? Am I doing something that matters to me? And if the answer is yes,

then you're probably on the right path. What do you attain the growth of Herbalife again, growing especially during this time and everything of that? And is there a specific product that's really helped pull the company? Yeah. You know, we have great high quality science products, no doubt about it. But really what I would attribute to growth is people learning to understand what's the right things to put in their body. There's so much misinformation out there around what you, you can go Google something. You shouldn't eat bread. No,

you should be on a paleo diet. No, you should be on a whole 30 diet. No, you should, you should only eat carbs. No, you should only, there's so much misinformation out there. So by providing a portfolio of products that then again, these, what we call our distributors, these small businesses, people that are out there that can connect with their customers to say, oh, you're a new mom, or, oh, I know you're, you know, a 20 year old male training for a 10k, or, you know, you're doing a, an Ironman, all these personalized nutrition by being able to deliver those personalized nutrition solutions, now in a world, you know, obviously this COVID-19 situation is just terrible.

Big picture. But what it has done, it has shifted consumer trends. People care more today about what they put in their body. They see that link between what do I put in my body and their health. And so I think we're just seeing an acceleration of consumers having a more open idea to, hey, Herbalife Nutrition, they sell nutrition.

I care about what am I putting in my body. Maybe I need to pay a little attention here. And that's the growth that we have in front of us, by the way. And Alex, which products do you take i take something called rebuild strength so i'm a i'm a sports and fitness guy i was a i was a college athlete i played soccer in college and i continue to work out uh pretty pretty significantly so i i take something that uh that uh actually uh pro athletes take as. It's our sports nutrition line. So it's called Rebuild.

And Alex, do you have children? I do, I have four. So what type of things are you teaching them to instill what you have? Again, clearly educated, experienced, sincere. What kind of secrets are you sharing with your children to be able to help them grow up and lead a successful life and make a difference to the community like you have?

Yeah, it's again, it's probably more of that same theme of being engaged, you know, doing something to the 80 percent level. That's not quite good enough. And that's because you think you're doing five different things, particularly in our world today. I mean, our kids have so many activities. I'm like, hey, let's narrow this in. Let's narrow this in a little bit. You don't need to be specialized, but you don't need six activities in a day. So it's sort of focus in a little bit, make sure whatever you're doing, you do it well and do it to completion. If you want to go do something else, that's fine. But let's at least see what you're doing through before you

take on a second, a third, a fourth, or a fifth thing. Well, Alex, excellent. You know, you identify key strategic and financial initiatives while helping entrepreneurs thrive in their business through Herbalife. That's a hero. Alex Amazkita, CFO of Herbalife Nutrition. Make sure you check him out. Go to IamHerbalifeNutrition.com. This has been David Kogan with the Alliance's Hero Show.