| Don G. Cox, Jr. serves as President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of the Board of the Company. Don Cox is considered a leading expert in the retail industry for his proven ability to take a product from an idea to a concept and successful deployment both domestically and internationally. He has over twenty-five years' experience in raising capital, contract negotiations, licensing, product design, operations, sales, and marketing. He has consulted for several companies in the areas of mergers, acquisitions, and exit strategies. He has a unique ability to build management teams with extensive expertise and very diverse backgrounds to create successful companies that are on the leading edge of their industries. Mr. Cox was once the largest national franchise operator of TCBY stores in the 1980s, chairing TCBY’s President’s Council, and an owner of a large area development agreement with Blockbuster. Most notably, he served as President, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Pretzelmaker, Inc. He took Pretzelmaker, a company on the verge of bankruptcy, to 220 stores in 40 states and 7 provinces in Canada and Asia in 18 short months. It became one of the fastest growing franchise chains in North America, outgrowing competitors nearly three to one and becoming one of Entrepreneurs Magazine’s top 200 franchises in 1996. As President and CEO, he was responsible for product development and store design, marketing and distribution, both domestic and international, and franchise business operations. Mr. Cox was co-founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Body, Art and Science and SRA (Supplement Research and Advancements), a high-end sport supplement and nutrition company with products distributed in the U.S. and Europe. He is considered an expert in both the fitness and nutritional industries consulting for athletes in the NFL and NBA. Mr. Cox also developed and owned Fitness Unlimited and Florida Fitness, two successful fitness chains in Florida. He is the founder of Namaste®, an all-natural, all botanical skin care line developed for women, men and children with over 90 products. Namaste® was sold in major department stores including Nordstrom and Takashmia on 5th Avenue in New York. |