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leadership

Designs for Health has been the health care professional's trusted source since 1989.

Jonathan LizotteCEO, Founder & Chairman

Jonathan Lizotte is the Founder and Chairman of Designs for Health. Throughout the years, he has guided and directed the company to ensure that its mission and vision are realized. His focused, hands-on approach, with direct involvement across all business functions, is a key driver of the ongoing success of the company.

Jonathan’s entrepreneurial spirit has led to the founding of four DFH locations, helping to generate hundreds of jobs. Jonathan credits his business success to one simple philosophy, “Do what you said you would do, when you said you would do it.” This attitude, along with a team of individuals who share this understanding of business etiquette, is why over many years DFH customers have remained loyal to the brand.

Born and raised in Western Massachusetts, Jonathan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in finance from the University of Florida. He is also Treasurer of the Alliance for Natural Health, a non-profit Washington, DC based political advocacy group supporting consumer access to nutritional supplements, integrative medicine, and freedom of choice in healthcare.

With over 30 years in the integrative medicine, medical foods, and nutritional supplement industry, Jonathan is an expert in the business of the therapeutic use of natural products. Under Jonathan’s leadership, DFH has become one of the fastest growing, most respected manufacturers and distributors of nutritional supplements nationwide.

Phil LizotteVice Chair

Phil joined Designs for Health in 2006, after a rewarding career in the construction industry, where over the course of 28 years he built two companies into very successful enterprises. As Vice Chair of DFH, Phil’s experience in building organizations and coordinating their resources has been a major asset in the development of DFH from a company with only one distribution center, into an organization with four distribution centers and two manufacturing facilities.

Gail LizotteVice Chair

As Vice Chair of Designs for Health, Gail Lizotte keeps in close contact with the day-to-day activities of this growing enterprise. Since the early 1990s, Gail has overseen all DFH’s operations, which makes her the go-to person for many issues. Gail is also the coordinator of employee matters for all four DFH facilities. With her steady presence and her ability to connect with people, Gail is an enormous part of the heart of this company.

Roger KoehlerPresident

Named President at Designs for Health in 2017, Roger Koehler is instrumental to the ongoing growth of the brand and furthering its mission of establishing DFH as the leading innovator for the industry. Roger oversees all operational aspects of DFH and has a track record as a results-oriented executive leader in finance, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, product management, and engineering. In his position as President, as in his previous role as COO, he brings his passion, drive and comprehensive expertise in corporate strategy and operations to DFH. His global experience includes China, Malaysia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Europe, with fluency in German. His background as CFO, CPO, Director of Global Strategic Sourcing, Director of Product Management, QC Manager, and Process Engineer at distinguished global companies highlights his strengths and extensive leadership capabilities. Koehler holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas, and an MBA from the University of Houston Executive Program. Roger was raised in a family that has operated a Chiropractic practice for over 65 years.

Mike CharlandChief Financial Officer

Michael Charland, Chief Financial Officer, joined Designs for Health full time in 2018. As a Senior Executive experienced in developing and executing business strategies for both early stage companies and established Fortune organizations alike, Michael’s role at DFH is to lead the company to revenue growth and ROI. He has a previous record of success in raising capital, identifying and integrating merger and joint venture partners, and managing divestitures. He strengthens organizations through strategic planning, financial modeling, financial controls, best practice implementation, business planning and reporting, and restructuring operations utilizing Six Sigma methodology.

He has executed deals to provide growth into Asian and European markets and is acknowledged for building and leading successful teams. Prior to joining DFH, Michael evolved and grew at large public companies holding titles of CFO, COO, VP of Financial Planning & Analysis and VP of Lending Sales working both domestically and abroad in many different industries and businesses. He then became the prime C-Suite driver for strategic growth in middle market and start-up firm companies.

Steve CarruthersGeneral Counsel

After several years serving as outside counsel to Designs for Health, Steve joined the company as its General Counsel in 2012. Prior to joining DFH, Steve was engaged in private practice in Connecticut for over 20 years. During this time, he focused on corporate and transactional matters for small and medium-sized businesses, including M & A, debt and venture capital financing, and commercial real estate. As DFH’s General Counsel, Steve’s focus is on protecting the DFH brand and supporting the company’s rapid growth. Steve’s aggressive litigation strategy in state and federal courts, has resulted in permanent injunctions and six-figure settlements against unauthorized online resellers of DFH products, helping to clear unauthorized sellers from Amazon. Steve also leads a team of attorneys and regulatory specialists that partner with the company’s business leaders to identify and navigate regulatory and other risks that are inherent in rapidly growing companies like DFH.

Daniel SamsonChief Revenue Officer

Daniel Samson has almost 30 years of professional experience in the Nutraceutical and Pharmaceutical Industries, where he held multiple executive positions in the sales, marketing and business development fields in the US, Canada and South America. After joining DFH in 2014 as the President of the Canadian operation and VP of International Sales, Daniel was responsible for leading the development of Designs for Health’s short and long-term strategies in Canada and other international markets. Daniel was recently appointed as Chief Revenue Officer and is now responsible for the US Sales and Customer Experience teams. Daniel holds an MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and speaks English and Spanish fluently.

Neal MercadoChief Marketing Officer

Neal Mercado, Chief Marketing Officer, joined the Designs for Health team in 2018. He is responsible for the development and implementation of our global marketing and innovation functions, in line with our strategic goals. Since joining DFH, he has transformed and refined our Education, Marketing, and Product Development functions to ensure Designs for Health continues to lead the way in delivering the highest quality natural supplements for healthcare practitioners. Neal has over 20 years’ experience in the global vitamin and dietary supplements industry, with an emphasis on strategic marketing, new product development, and research. Prior to joining Designs for Health, he was Director of Research, Development and Emerging Markets for a leading practitioner brand in Australia. He has also held the role of Director of Global Product Development, Director of the Blackmores Institute and is currently an Adjunct Fellow at the National Institute of Complementary Medicine at Western Sydney University.

Tom BertolinoChief Information Officer

Tom Bertolino joined Designs For Health as Chief Information Officer in 2021. In this role, Tom leads the global master IT strategic plan and provides executive leadership for internal and external IT resources. Before joining Designs For Health, Tom worked 16 years at Anheuser-Busch in various logistics/IT roles and was elected to ABI's multi-year Leadership Development Program. For the last 8 years, he successfully led a software product development team at Cass Information Systems. Tom attended St. Louis University where he received a BS in Finance and an MBA with an emphasis in Management Information Systems.

Peter BarraketManaging Director Australia & New Zealand

Peter Barraket has more than 18 years’ experience across the health food, vitamins and dietary supplements industry. He started his career in accounting before moving into institutional and international banking, where he spent a number of years trading currency and commodity derivatives for a number of major Australian banks. In 1999, he moved into the corporate world and commenced working at Goodman Fielder (Australia’s largest food company at the time). He worked on a series of profit improvement initiatives and mergers and acquisition deals.

In 2003, he joined Australia’s largest vitamin and dietary supplements company, Blackmores, as its Corporate Development Manager, before being promoted to the company’s Chief Financial Officer and then Director for Australia. In 2012 he was recruited by Private Equity firm Next Capital to run the supplements division of one of their portfolio companies Vitaco – New Zealand’s largest vitamins and health food company. More recently he was the CEO of Mr. Vitamins, Australia’s largest independent health food retailer and also founded his own strategic advisory business called Natural Core, specializing in developing core business strategies for participants in the natural products space.