Management

John Penny

John Penny, CEO & Co-Founder of WELA, has a proven track record of successful business as an entrepreneur and has been in network marketing for the past 8 years. He has held ownership in seven privately held companies with one, HST Global, Inc., going public in 2008.

Prior to founding WELA, Penny was awarded as a Top 5 Income Earner at VEMMA Nutrition Company. This experience led to his creation of WELA to benefit others in growing their own wealth and maintaining good health. Penny founded WELA with a vision of its guiding values to be dignity, service, excellence, and stewardship. Each of these values ultimately focuses on the needs of others through the company's daily decisions and actions.

Penny knows what it takes to lead a successful company as demonstrated by his ownership in Penmac Personnel Services, Inc. Penmac is a premier provider of staffing and human resource services. For over 21 years, the company has connected talented job seekers with excellent employers. The company has hired over 1 million people and is a certified Women's Business Enterprise (WBENC). http://www.penmac.com

In 2005, Penmac topped Springfield Business Journal's (SBJ) list of Dynamic Dozen companies, recognizing the fastest-growing businesses in the Ozarks. It hit a high point in 2006 with nearly $98 million in revenues, and ranked No. 10 among SBJ's 2007 Dynamic Dozen. In 2010 Penmac was named the Ozarks' Best Employment Recruitment Agency by the readers of the Springfield News-Leader for the eighth consecutive year.

Penny attended William Jewell College, a private, four-year liberal arts college in Liberty, Missouri, and graduated in 1987. He is very active in his church, the First Free Church of Springfield, Missouri, and volunteers regularly for a variety of organizations and causes including Ozarks Food Harvest and the Men's Fraternity of the Ozarks. The Men's Fraternity provides men with an encouraging process that teaches them how to live lives of authentic manhood as modeled by Jesus Christ and directed by the Word of God.

Penny's family and his faith are his top priorities in life. He enjoys keeping healthy by working out, lifting weights, and running. He also coaches his son's Mighty Mites Football Team. The Mighty Mites program is for children in grade school and strives to teach the participants good sportsmanship and fair play. Penny also enjoys entertainment like Star Wars movies, Lord of the Rings movies, and Christian Rock.

You can follow John on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/john.penny.us.

Dan Mathews

Dan Mathews comes to WELA after eight years in the insurance industry. His experience has prepared him for his role as Vice President at WELA with expertise in customer service, day-to-day operations, and overall business management. He also has a background in law enforcement which lends to his responsibilities in keeping WELA's member and customer information secure.

Mathews' primary responsibilities with WELA include: customer service management; day-to-day operations of the company; and the coordination of shipping and payment processing.

The role of Vice President for WELA was attractive to Mathews because it offered the combination of a stable company with great products and great people as well as the excitement for incredible growth. Mathews is eager to lead and support WELA's members through his service for years to come.

Mathews grew up in Lee's Summit, Missouri, attended Lee's Summit High School, and later graduated from Missouri State University in 1996. His first job out of college was in law enforcement in Kansas City, Missouri from 1996-2000. He moved to Springfield, Missouri in 2000 where he began his career in the insurance industry. Mathews is married with two daughters and spends his spare time coaching basketball.

Ryan Burgard

Ryan Burgard, Marketing Director & Co-Founder of WELA, started his career with his own online lead-generation business and has been successful in numerous entrepreneurial endeavors throughout his career. Burgard's businesses in online lead generation and direct sales have prospered with the direct sales business hitting a five-figure monthly income. He has also built downlines in excess of 75,000 distributors.

Burgard was an all time top-seller for Vemma prior to joining WELA. Vemma was a stable network marketing company that provided him with valuable knowledge and experience in nutrition, online marketing systems, and business processes. He has combined his knowledge from his own business ventures with that of his network marketing experience to create an influential leadership position for himself among other industry leaders at WELA.

At WELA, Burgard has achieved the recognition of 2nd all time income earner. He has also been recognized for his outstanding achievements with awards such as the Enliven International Top Recruiter in 2003 and Success University Top 10 Recruiter in 2006.

WELA's email communication is vital to the company's success, and Burgard is responsible for emails reaching all tour takers and WELA members. He maintains productive and efficient relationships with all major Internet Service Providers (ISP's).

Burgard and his wife Brandy value family time more than anything. They have three daughters, Kaitlynn, Natalie, and Madison. Working with WELA allows Burgard and his family the lifestyle they treasure with the flexibility to travel, more time together, and many of the luxuries life has to offer.

Mark Gullett

Mark Gullett, IT Director & Co-Founder of WELA, is responsible for programming and maintaining WELA’s Web sites as well as developing site interfaces and continuously expanding their functionality to improve WELA’s business.

Gullett’s career background and experience have provided him with the in-demand, technical skills required to effectively lead an internet-based company such as WELA. He most recently served as an Application Systems Analyst and Database Administrator at Penmac for 6 years and as a Programmer/Analyst of Data Processing Applications and Web Development across various industries for 9 years prior to his position at Penmac.

When he’s not busy with WELA’s Web sites, Gullett is an avid outdoor enthusiast who spends his spare time mountain biking and participates in numerous cross-country races each year -- 26 of them this year! He recently placed 2nd in the 30-39 division of the Arkansas Mountain Bike Marathon Series, and 2nd in the CAT 1 30-39 class of the United Federation of Dirt's East Cross Country Series. Gullett also participates in adventure racing and enjoys spending time with his family, and his long-time girlfriend Amanda.

He has his own blog too: http://www.markgullett.com
Of which Gullett says, “I’d write more if I wasn’t so busy with WELA!”

Gullett attended Southwest Missouri State University and Northwest Missouri Community College. He is a member of the Association of IT Professionals (AITP).

MANAGEMENT