WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Oct 04, 2005 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Garden of Life, Inc., a national health and wellness company and distributor of whole food nutritional supplements, has introduced a new Chief Executive Officer, executive management team and Board of Directors.

Greg Horn, Garden of Life's new CEO, is a long-time leader in the nutritional supplements industry. He has dedicated his career to building brands that enhance healthy living and brings a remarkable track record of innovation and revenue growth. The new executive team members bring a wide breadth of industry experience from such leading health and nutrition companies as Royal Numico, General Nutrition Corporation (GNC), Nature Food Centers, Rexall Sundown, Nature's Fresh! Northwest and Borden Foods. The company's new Board of Directors is comprised of business and nutrition industry veterans providing a range of expertise on clinical research and regulatory and nutrition business issues, and includes the co-founders of both Nutrition Business Journal, and Experimental and Applied Sciences (EAS).

"We're excited about the tremendous expertise, knowledge and experience that Greg and the leadership team and Board bring to Garden of Life," said company founder Jordan S. Rubin. "With their proven leadership and sound advice, we look forward to seeing the Garden of Life brand grow stronger than ever within the health and wellness industry."

Prior to joining Garden of Life, Horn co-founded Specialty Nutrition Group, Inc., a leading innovator in nutrition brand building from concept through launch. He also a co-founded Brand New Brands, Inc., a leading functional food and beverage company. In addition, he served as Chief Executive Officer of General Nutrition Centers (GNC) and was instrumental in building the GNC brand and increasing revenues by $100 million per year from 1991 to 2002, as the company grew from $400 million to $1.5 billion in revenues. When GNC was acquired by Royal Numico in 1999, Horn was Chairman of Royal Numico's North American Executive Committee, overseeing all of the company's $2.5 billion specialty retail, mass market and direct selling operations.

"Garden of Life is a health and wellness company with a simple and compelling mission: Empowering extraordinary health," stated Horn. "We see tremendous opportunity to better serve our customers with this brand, and the new board and executive team will be instrumental in bringing that potential to life." Horn holds a master of business administration from UCLA and a bachelor of arts (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of Redlands.

Management Team

Irina Lorenzi

Garden of Life's new Vice President of Product Formulation & Innovation, Irina Lorenzi, has joined the executive management team with over 25 years' experience in the nutraceutical and natural product markets. She will be responsible for developing and launching innovative nutritional products and bringing nutraceutical concepts to fruition.

Lorenzi has led multimillion-dollar brand divisions in the supplement category and has a long track record in the successful development and launch of new products. Lorenzi has held many leadership positions in marketing, sales, brand management and buying for nutritional supplement and natural food retailers such as Numico, Inc., General Nutrition Centers, Inc., Nature's Fresh! Northwest and Nature Food Centers. She was the head of development and launch of the Nature's Fresh! Northwest lifestyle superstore, a fully branded innovative natural foods store incorporating a wellness education center, an integrative pharmacy and a spa in a 36,000-square-foot retail space, which was awarded retail store of the year in 1998. Irina also managed the successful GNC/Rite Aid alliance, which resulted in the launch of 1,000 GNC stores within Rite Aid pharmacies.

Lorenzi has a bachelor of science in experimental and applied sciences biology from the University of Colorado and has graduated from the Nutritional Studies Program at the Harvard Extension School.

Roberta Modena

Roberta Modena will serve on the executive management team as the Vice President of Marketing. She will be responsible for all areas of consumer marketing, public and media relations, creative development and consumer education for the Garden of Life brands.

Modena possesses over 10 years' marketing experience with the majority in the nutritional products arena focused on increasing market share and consumer awareness. She has successfully developed and executed new brand positioning programs, grassroots marketing initiatives, in-store retail promotions and online resources.

As Vice President of Marketing for General Nutrition Centers, Inc., Roberta managed a $100 million marketing effort focused on the retail nutrition business, including public relations, training & education, direct marketing and consumer advertising, resulting in substantially expanded recognition of the GNC brand and significant revenue and profitability growth.

Modena earned a bachelor of science in communications from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a master of education, instructional design & technology, from the University of Pittsburgh.

Lianne Maso De Moya

Lianne Maso De Moya has joined the executive management team as Vice President of Product Development with over 16 years in merchandise development and consumer packaged goods marketing experience.

Maso De Moya served as Vice President of Research and New Product Development in the Boca Raton-based company Brand New Brands, Inc. Maso De Moya facilitated all aspects of the company by leading new product development from concept creation to in-market testing.

She has also operated her own consulting business and held a variety of leadership roles at Rexall Sundown, Inc., including Director of Marketing in the Vitamins division, then Vice President of Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs and Supplements, and Vice President of Marketing in the area of Weight Management. Previously, Maso De Moya held a variety of marketing and brand management positions over the course of 10 years with Borden Foods Corporation.

Maso De Moya earned her bachelor of business administration in marketing and bachelor of arts in Spanish as a summa cum laude graduate from Albany State College, as well as a master of business administration from The Ohio State University.

Board of Directors

Board Chairman Jordan S. Rubin is the founder of Garden of Life and New York Times Best-selling author of "The Maker's Diet." Rubin formulated Garden of Life's exclusive line of more than 30 nutritional supplements and co- developed the unique probiotic fermentation process known as Poten-Zyme(TM). Rubin was named one of the most influential people in the natural products industry over the past decade by Vitamin Retailer, a business magazine for the dietary supplement and natural products industry.

Thomas Aarts is co-founder and executive editor of Nutrition Business Journal (NBJ), the "journal of record" for strategic information and market intelligence in the nutrition and natural product industry. NBJ has been cited by the most credible business news sources, including The New York Times, Forbes and The Wall Street Journal.

Anthony Almada, founder and Chief Scientific Officer of IMAGINutrition, Inc., an innovation and science marketing think tank focusing on nutritional technologies, IP clinical research validation and science-driven media campaigns, has also joined the Board of Directors. He has worked within the dietary supplement industry since 1975 and co-founded Experimental and Applied Sciences (EAS), which is now the largest sports nutrition company on a global scale.

David Axson is co-founder of The Sonax Group, a leading strategic consulting firm. David brings expertise in strategic innovation, operations, business leadership, planning and management experience to the board. He has served as head of Corporate Planning for Bank of America, Chief Operating Officer of The Hackett Group and Answerthink's Chief Intellectual Capital Officer, and is a professional writer and speaker on topics of business strategy and innovation.

Jonathan Cole has over 30 years' experience with venture capital, leveraged acquisitions, and emerging optical networks, biotech and life sciences, information technology, and e-commerce companies. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1971, he joined the well-known corporate and financial law firm Edwards & Angell and has been deeply involved in their strategy and expansion during the past 30 years, having served nearly 20 years on the firm's management committee. Cole is a frequent national and international lecturer on new business formation.

Greg Horn, the new CEO at Garden of Life, also serves as Vice Chairman of the Board. A longtime leader in the nutritional supplements industry, Horn has dedicated his career to building brands that enhance healthy living.

Brian Ray was Garden of Life's Chief Financial Officer from 2001 to 2005 and brings an intimate understanding of the company's financial and operating systems. An accomplished finance professional, Ray currently heads strategic acquisitions as Vice President Financial Strategy for Ameripath, one of the leading anatomic pathology practices in the United States.

About Garden of Life

Garden of Life, Inc. is a health and wellness company with a simple mission: Empowering extraordinary health. The company has helped millions of people to attain extraordinary health through its products and information. The company currently formulates, manufactures and distributes more than 40 proprietary whole food nutritional products to retailers nationally, such as The Vitamin Shoppe, Whole Foods Market, Wild Oats, select GNC stores and independent health food stores, as well as physicians and healthcare practitioners. Garden of Life is empowering extraordinary health by providing revolutionary products, education and services. For more information about Garden of Life and its full line of products, visit http://www.gardenoflife.com .