Chairman of the Board Amway Corporation Current: Co-Founder and Senior Chairman (Deceased) – Ada, Michigan
Jay Van Andel and his partner, Richard DeVos, started in business in 1945 with a flying school and commercial air charter service in Comstock Park, Michigan, to which they added a restaurant. After experimenting with import, mail order and direct selling businesses, they founded Amway Corporation in 1959. Amway today offers over 300 Amway products, plus more than 2,000 additional brand name items through its Personal Shoppers Catalog Service, with total revenues of $1.1 billion through more than 1,000,000 independent distributorships in more than 40 countries. Amway also owns the Mutual Broadcasting System, hotels in Michigan and the British Virgin Islands and several businesses. In addition to developing a unique organization and personnel motivation system, Mr. Van Andel is active in numerous business, civic and philanthropic organizations. “A bedrock faith we must have is our economic and political freedom. The two cannot be separated.”
