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Lauren G. Brill graduated from Indiana University with a degree in small business administration. She began working with Lanier Business products and then moved to work in her family business the Fitness Warehouse where she met one of their largest vendors Mike Dolder. Together they formed a partnership and they expanded Dolder’s independent Representative opportunities to include RAM Golf, Osceola Golf Shoes (Maker Of Foot Joy), Korex Golf Accessories and Shin Fu Exercise Equipment. Additionally, they expanded their customer base to include mass merchants in the Midwest and moved to Columbus, Ohio. Mass merchant customers included Kmart, Gold Circle, NBS Buying Syndicate, Hills, Hart’s and regional chains Brendamore Sports, Koenig Sports, Dunhams Sports, MC Sports, Gaylans Sports, Swallens Market and Van Lunens along with with all fitness specialty stores and golf specialty stores. In 1987 Brill and Dolder started a fitness Specialty buying syndicate called FITMAR. They sold that business in 1990 and managed it for 5 years before starting Recreational Design in 1996. Recreational Design was a spa and relaxation consumer products company that they sold in 1998.
From 1990 to 1995 Brill mastered Chief Financial Officer skills that included the ability to oversee all company accounting practices, including accounting departments, preparing budgets, financial reports, tax and audit functions. Direct financial strategy, planning and forecasts. Supervise investment and raise funds for business. Additionally, Brill Studied and analyzed trends, opportunities and expansion.
In 1999 Brill and Dolder aligned with Mike Marton to begin Roadshows and direct shipments of Hot Tubs directly to consumers. In 2001 Mary Rycroft joined the team under the Leisure Marketing umbrella to develop a pre-call and confirmation system to deliver big bulky items like spas and saunas directly to consumers so retailers would get credit for the sales without the burden of inventory or floor space. The system won vendor of The Year in Department 29 for THE HOME DEPOT. In 2005 Leisure Marketing was sold.
In 2006 ACT Industries was formed to concentrate on Mass Merchant Internet sales of Spas, Saunas, Patio Furniture and Swimming Pool Items by the Dolder, Brill, Marton and Rycroft Team. In 2009 Source Network was added as a Sourcing Arm for Asian product and one of the first categories and brands were infrared heaters under the LIFESMART Brand. Through 2013 Source Network and LIFESMART Developed a substantial market share in infrared Heaters and LIFESMART products including Spas and Saunas on line thru ACT Industries. Dolder and Brill sold both ACT Industries and Source Network Sales & Marketing, Inc to private equity in 2013. Brill “retired” while Dolder (eGLOBAL Network) formed a partnership with Mr. Tim Hu (Supply Chain Sources) who represented the original Asian Manufacturing Sources to develop partnerships and develop USA corporations, domestic support teams and nationwide customer service for upholstered furniture, massage chairs, patio furniture case goods and exercise equipment.
In April of 2017 Hu and the Asian vendors proposed purchasing the assets from private equity of LIFESMART Products (excluding Hot Tubs and saunas) and Source Network Sales and Marketing provided that Dolder-Brill and the original team including Rycroft and Marton would agree to add to them current portfolio and manage. An agreement was reached and LIFESMART was added to the Team’s portfolio. Entering the 2018 season Supply Chain Sources (Tim Hu) represents Sourcing and Asian vendor relations while eGLOBAL Manages sales, marketing and distribution of all brands and product categories.
Michael J. Dolder graduated Northern Illinois University with a degree in photo Journalism and a minor in Public Relations. Dolder found work in tele-communication marketing that led into an opportunity as an independent manufacturer’s representative in the sporting goods and fitness industry. One of his largest customers was The Fitness Warehouse in Skokie, IL. Owned by the Brill Family and he formed a partnership with Lauren Brill, who was a recent graduate of Indiana University. Together they expanded their independent Representative opportunities to include RAM Golf, Osceola Golf Shoes (Maker Of Foot Joy), Korex Golf Accessories and Shin Fu Exercise Equipment. Additionally, they expanded their customer base to include Mass Merchants in the Midwest and moved to Columbus, Ohio. Mass merchant customers included Kmart, Gold Circle, NBS Buying Syndicate, Hills, Hart’s and regional chains Brendamores Sports, Koenig Sports, Dunham’s Sports, Swallens Market, Gaylans Sports and Van Lunens along with all fitness specialty stores and golf specialty stores.
In 1987 Brill and Dolder started a fitness Specialty buying syndicate called FITMAR. They sold that business in 1990 and managed it for 5 years before starting Recreational design in 1996 a spa and relaxation consumer products company that they sold in 1998. In 1999 Brill and Dolder aligned with Mike Marton to begin Roadshows and direct shipments of Hot Tubs directly to consumers. In 2001 Mary Rycroft joined the team under the Leisure Marketing umbrella to develop a pre-call and confirmation system to deliver big bulky items like spas and saunas directly to consumers so retailers would get credit for the sales without the burden of inventory or floor space. The system won vendor of The Year in Department 29 for THE HOME DEPOT. In 2005 Leisure Marketing was sold.
In 2006 ACT Industries was formed to concentrate on Mass Merchant Internet sales of Spas, Saunas, Patio Furniture and Swimming Pool Items by the Dolder, Brill, Marton and Rycroft Team. In 2009 Source Network was added as a Sourcing Arm for Asian Products and one of the first categories and brands were infrared heaters under the LIFESMART Brand. Through 2013 Source Network and LIFESMART developed a substantial market share in infrared Heaters and LIFESMART products including Spas and Saunas on line. Dolder and Brill sold that business to private equity in 2013. Brill “retired” while Dolder (eGLOBAL Network) formed a partnership with Mr. Tim Hu (Supply Chain Sources) who represented the original Asian Manufacturing Sources to develop partnerships and develop USA Corporations, domestic support teams and nationwide customer service for upholstered furniture, massage chairs, patio furniture case goods and exercise equipment. In April of 2017 Hu and the Asian vendors proposed purchasing the assets from private equity of LIFESMART Products (excluding Hot Tubs and saunas) and Source Network Sales and Marketing provided that Dolder and the original team including Brill, Rycroft and Marton would agree to add them to the current portfolio and manage. An agreement was reached and LIFESMART was added to the Team’s portfolio. Entering into the 2018 season supply Chain Sources (Hu) represents Sourcing and Asian vendor relations while eGLOBAL Manages sales, marketing and distribution of all brands and product categories.
Mary Rycroft grew up in Chicago and received her BA in Art Education from the University of Illinois. Shortly after graduation and newly married, there was an opportunity to leave the cold winters behind and she and her husband headed to Texas.
She started her ‘jack of all trades/master of none’ career as a sales service rep for a business forms printing manufacturing company, and was promoted 2 years later as the company’s cost accountant, responsible for establishing a standard cost system, along with inventory management and GL account reconciliation for 6 years. Baby number 1 came along, and Mary took some time off to be a mom.
Mary came back in to the workforce as the Controller for another printing company and put a number of systems in place, including an automated order entry system. Baby #2 came along 3 years later and Mary was offered an opportunity to become a principle partner in yet again another printing company. This is where she dove in and became involved with sales and operations, implementing an automated estimating price system for quotes, and putting systems in place for order processing with full accounting integration, bills of material for manufacturing, and just in time inventory which cut down raw material purchases by 45%.
In 2001, Mary sold her interest in the printing company and decided she was going to ‘retire’. After boredom set in, she applied for a sales support position with Leisure Marketing, a company headed up by Lauren Brill. She learned about hot tub road shows and big box retail from both Lauren and Mike, while processing orders from the roadshows, implementing retailer programs, working with outside reps, and doing a bit of inside sales. In 2005 Leisure Marketing was sold and with Sales headed up by Mike Dolder, Mary became Key Account Manager and also became involved in the day to day marketing function.
In 2007, Mary left to become an independent sales rep and joined the Dolder/Marton sales team with the focus on selling online mass merchant retailers. She represented ACT and Source Network Sales with hot tubs, saunas, and heaters. It was during this time that she was also was exposed to direct import programs with major retailers. When Mike and Lauren sold their interest in both companies to Private Equity in 2013, Mary stayed on to rep Lifesmart products through her account base.
In 2015, Mary was provided with yet another opportunity to come in to Lifesmart as sales manager bringing her accounts inside, and working with reps in putting retailer programs together. In addition to managing her account base, she became involved in product development and marketing. In April 2017, the assets of Lifesmart were sold to Tim Hu of Supply Chain Sources, and Mary was asked to join the eGlobal team in May 2017. As this will be her last hurrah after a diverse 40 year career, she is excited to be part of the sales growth of yet another company that has Mike at its entrepreneurial head.
Mr. Hu has been an entrepreneur for over 15 years. He is currently the Co-owner and President of Supply Chain Sources LLC, an appliance wholesale company that operates at 339 N Berry St., Brea CA 92821 selling Lifesmart brand of consumer appliances to North America. He is also the co-owner and President of eSmart Inc selling massage and fitness equipment.
Mr.Hu came to US for his Master’s degree in 1992 at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. After obtaining his Master’s degree in 1994, Mr. Hu worked as a product development engineer for 9 years for several major US corporations such as ITW in Boston area. In 2003, Mr. Hu moved to LA area and partnered with a friend to start his first business to distribute flame retardants in US and worked as the General Manager for the business. In 2007, Mr. Hu started his own company Exact Products, Inc selling building raw materials. In 2008, Mr. Hu saw the opportunity of infrared heaters, and started a new partnership with Xin’an Electric Co. Ltd to develop an extensive line of infrared heaters. Working with his partners in China, Mr. Hu helped Xin’an Electric extend its product offerings into pellet stoves and pellet grills and grow the business to over $40 million in sales. In 2017, after being presented an opportunity to buy Lifesmart brand and other business assets of Lifesmart. Mr. Hu formed Supply Chain Sources LLC with Xin’an Electric and Ruineng Electric and bought these assets. In the same year, Mr. Hu has formed another company eSmart Inc. with his partners from China selling massage products and fitness products.
Michael C. Marton graduated MIT with a degree in manufacturing engineering. He has worked in many businesses including manufacturing and media finally settling into retail in 1989 in the Pool and Spa industry. In 1998 Marton formed a working alliance with Mike Dolder and Lauren Brill to create a mass merchant spa program that would bring all the benefits of backyard spa ownership at an affordable cost to the masses. The program included a unique 32 prong approach of a private in store merchandising team to greet customers and a phone team to answer questions and drive sales to the fledgling world of e commerce. In addition key stores stocked special spas geared to quick sale on promotion. Saunas later followed into the program. In 2004 The Home Depot acknowledged the novel approach to retail with a "Vendor of the Year" award. The program also extended to TV with a record setting 239 saunas sold in 1 hour on Shop NBC with Marton as the on air host.
As the economy faced crisis in 2008 the luxury spa and sauna market imploded leaving a huge void in sales and a need to reinvent with products that would carry in a down economy. Marton continued his relationship with Dolder, Brill and Mary Rycroft in working to help build the Lifesmart Brand (created by the Dolder/Brill team) The brand offered consumer friendly infrared heater again to the masses by making products affordable and placing them in mass merchant venues and the internet ands away from the higher costing specialty stores. This also lead to other products and as the economy recovered by 2013 the team was back in the spa business with a new on line only approach that took advantage of powerhouse websites like Amazon, Wayfair, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Overstock and others.
In 2016 Marton continued his relationship with Brill/Dolder/Rycroft thru eGlobal Netwok and Innovative Design LLC and now works with them on special projects for new products thru an alliance with Supply Chain Sources which represents international manufactures with products such as heaters, fireplaces, fans, air purifiers furniture, stand desks, health, fitness and massage items. There is a really bright future for 2018 and beyond with the team celebrating over 20 years of innovation.
Michael C Marton lives in remote eastern Washington State and when not flying on business he enjoys running half marathons and going to concerts.