74 / 116
Sco t t S l ade
F
rom the time he was a
young boy, Scott Slade was
surrounded by people who knew
the nutritional supplements
business. Youmight say it’s in
his blood. “My family has been
in the vitamin business for three
generations,” says Slade, who today
serves as president of industry
supplier Lanco Corporation. “My
grandfather started a vitamin
company back in the 1960s, and
thenmy father started his own
vitamin business.”
By 1998, his father’s nutritional
supplements business hadmerged
with Nature’s Bounty, which was
was later acquired by Carlisle
Group. Today, the vitamin purveyor
manufactures supplements that are
sold under multiple brand names
across the nation and abroad in
chain stores such as CVS and Target.
After Slade graduated with
a degree in psychology from
Syracuse University, he joined his
familymembers at NBTY, where
he learned the ropes and climbed
the ladder. By 2005, he had been
named senior vice president over
all active nutrition and contract
manufacturing. At the time, the
division he was overseeing was the
chief product manufacturer for
direct-selling giant Herbalife and
also formulated its own brands such
as Met-Rx and Pure Protein.
A Tale Of Two Industries
As NBTY grew larger andmore
complex, Slade found himself
hungering for an opportunity with
a bit more of an entrepreneurial
spirit. So he went back to what he
knewbest—the health andwellness
industry—and developed a line
of anti-aging skincare products.
After several years, however, the
promotional products industry
caught his eye.
“When I was in the health
industry, I had bought promotional
products as an end user,” Slade
explains. “So I knewwhat that
world was about from the outside.
After the economy dropped in 2008,
I saw that the promotional products
industry was going to grow and
come back—because everybody
needs promotional products.”
In 2011, Slade invested in Lanco
as themajority shareholder and
worked his way into the corner
office. Slade says there are parallels
between the health and wellness
From A Third-Gen Past
To A Next-Gen Future
From a family with
three generations
in the nutritional
business, Lanco
President Scott
Slade brings next-
gen innovation to
the promotional
products industry.
by
Brittany Glenn
Lanco’s Scott Slade says chocolate is about a third of the business.
72
|
JUNE 2017
|
THINK