In appreciation of his exceptional leadership and outstanding contributions to the natural products industry, Vitamin Retailer magazine honors Jim Emme—chief executive officer, NOW Health Group—with its first Industry Leadership Award.
Neil Levin, senior nutrition education manager and a product formulator for NOW, started his career at the company in late 1997, about three years after Jim Emme did. “But I really got to know him 15 years ago when we started traveling together to visit international customers in Europe and Asia,” Levin recalled.
It was during one of those trips Levin experienced Emme’s unfailing commitment to supporting his people. “He showed extraordinary care toward me when I was briefly hospitalized during our visit to Iceland, and he is always interested in what’s happening with me personally, as well as my family. And during town hall meetings or plant tours, he seems to know each of our hundreds of employees and obviously values his relationship with each one of them. I can attest that he takes very seriously his commitments to the welfare of everyone in the company.”
Emme started at NOW initially as chief of operations and then as president of NOW Foods. He was promoted to chief executive officer of NOW Health Group (NHG) in 2014.
NHG comprises Puresource, Canada’s leading national distributor and manufacturer of natural health products; The Fruitful Yield, a chain of 12 natural food stores in the Chicagoland area; and NOW Foods, the largest division of the company and manufacturer of more than 1,600 dietary supplements, foods, sports nutrition and personal care products that are sold in more than 100 countries.
According to Dan Richard, son of NOW Founder Elwood Richard, and NOW vice president of global sales and marketing, “Jim has worked to fit within NOW’s culture, which we think is unique. Jim naturally fit our frugal mindset as he grew up on a farm in Indiana. He also fit our Christian-principled guidelines, which includes servant leadership. Jim learned about family ownership and dealing with various issues that don’t affect public companies. When Jim first joined NOW, he was hired as our plant manager … and it was obvious from the start that Jim was not like our other plant managers. He was unusually smart and poised for this position and this led to him becoming COO and later CEO. His engineering personality helped NOW to solve equipment needs and focus on efficiencies and systems.”
Emme has been a key player in NHG’s global expansion efforts, and instrumental in developing the operational resources and facilities in North America. Under his management as COO and president, he oversaw the expansion of the company’s Puresource operation in Canada from a small distribution facility to a large distribution hub and manufacturing facility. He also managed the acquisition and growth of the company’s Nevada facility from a small distribution center to a LEED Silver-certified manufacturing facility that includes soft gel and other production capabilities, as well as state-of-the-art testing labs. All NOW’s buildings have been upgraded to sustainable energy and water conservation systems. Under his leadership as CEO, NOW acquired a 200,000-square-foot building to house a state-of-the-art Order Fulfillment and Distribution Operations facility, which was formerly housed in the Bloomingdale manufacturing facility.
Most recently, the company purchased the building next door to the Bloomingdale manufacturing facility, adding an 80,000-square-foot expansion of NOW’s manufacturing and quality operations. “Jim joined NOW in 1995 when total company sales were $32 million,” Richard said. “This year NOW will exceed $1 billion and about half of our sales are outside the U.S. That’s staggering growth and Jim has been a key leader within NOW. Annual growth has averaged double-digits, and our manufacturing facilities and laboratories have also increased similarly.”
Emme prepared NOW for success and growth early on. “Jim was one of two company people drivers to buy and build our first and largest manufacturing facility in 1998,” Richard said. “This is still our main production plant with most of our employees there. Jim did extensive work building a facility that would allow significant growth and expansion over time. He also led teams to plan and execute two other large manufacturing plants in the U.S. Today, NOW produces about four finished bottles per second 24/7/365.”
Industry Leadership
Emme was appointed Chairman of the Natural Products Association (NPA) Board of Directors in 2025.
According to Dan Fabricant, president and CEO of NPA, “Jim Emme is a steward of industry who leads by example with conviction, humility and zeal. As chairman of the board of directors of the NPA, Mr. Emme has eloquently and fervently advanced the association’s priorities in meetings with administration officials, regulatory agencies, legislators and industry stakeholders. All the while, Mr. Emme leads NOW Foods, the largest family- and employee-owned supplement company in North America, to greater prosperity.”
Emme also serves on the United Natural Products Association (UNPA) Executive Advisory Committee and the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada (EDAWN) Board of Trustees, in addition to involvement in other industry initiatives. Emme was honored by the American Botanical Council (ABC) as the 2018 ABC Champion.
His combination of a food science education, decades of experience in the design and management of food manufacturing and distribution operations, coupled with his appreciation for hard work and dedication has made him ideally suited to carry on the strong values system that the NOW brand represents.VR
What Does Jim Emme Think?
Leaders Reflect on an Industry Champion
Neil Levin, Senior Nutrition Education Manager, Product Formulator, NOW:
It’s difficult to overstate the impact that Jim has had on the natural products industry. While his position alone commands respect, he personally exhibits a thoughtful competence and respect for others, combined with a genuinely humble demeanor and vast experience, that makes him uniquely qualified to build bridges and find common ground. His leadership on government relations and regulatory issues has been quite impressive. Jim has quite appropriately been honored with various industry awards and recognitions for being a champion of the industry and making the industry better. People simply want to know what he thinks and hear what he has to say because of who he is as a person.
Dan Fabricant, President and CEO, Natural Products Association (NPA):
Mr. Emme has raised the profile of NPA and is a key figure behind its landmark wins in recent years. Under his leadership on the board of NPA, the association has:
1. Influenced the administration’s decision to grant hundreds of millions of dollars in tariff relief for ingredient suppliers and CPG brands.
2. Defended consumer access to lawful dietary ingredients through administrative and legal actions (e.g. NAC and NMN).
3. Encouraged FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) to propose cuts to burdensome labeling regulations.
4. Requested and was granted an FDA public meeting to reexamine the definition of a dietary supplement, amid rapid technological and scientific innovations.
5. Served as the most fervent advocate against state legislatures that promote an unsubstantiated narrative that the industry is un/underregulated and fraught with harm.
NPA’s board of directors has grown under a chairman who encourages participation and input from all stakeholders. Mr. Emme treats everyone he encounters with gratitude and respect, regardless of whether they are a C-suite executive or Uber driver.
I am grateful to have Mr. Emme as our chairman and commend him for this well-deserved Vitamin Retailer magazine Leadership Award.
Roy Upton, Founder, American Herbal Pharmacopoeia (AHP):
I met Jim in the mid-1990s when he first joined NOW Foods. Up to that time, I interfaced mostly with NOW Foods owner, the late Elwood Richard, who was a stalwart defender of freedom of health care and was giving herbal product trainings to their Fruitful Yield retail stores. Thereafter, Jim was always supporting efforts in the background, quietly doing his magic with his incredible gentlemanly stature, kind countenance, and an equally stalwart dedication to health freedom.
For me, our relationship has been centered on friendship, respect, and a love for the potential of the natural products industry has for health care in the U.S.
I don’t think Jim’s impact can be separated from that of the original vision of Elwood Richards, NOW Foods, and Jim’s personal and professional association with the then National Nutritional Foods Association (NNFA) and now Natural Products Association (NPA). For Elwood, the retail sector was the soul of the industry and was synonymous with health freedom. NOW Foods made a conscious business decision to put fairness and access to natural health products before profits by producing good quality products and making them available at a fair price, even when market prices were higher. Jim in various leadership roles at NOW Foods for three decades, has maintained that commitment.
Marc Ullman, of Counsel:
The many issues Jim has played a vital leadership role in include: making sure quality products are the rule (not the exception) for our industry; battling the scourge of counterfeit products that always seem to be available on eBay, Facebook, TikTok or some other social media-internet outlet; and supporting the Natural Products Association as it reestablished the dietary supplement industry’s voice on Capitol Hill. Perhaps most remarkably, Jim has done all of this while maintaining an always affable manner; I do not believe I have ever seen him utter a nasty word. We are all the better for having him as a part of our industry.
Mark Blumenthal, Founder, American Botanical Council (ABC):
I’ve known Jim for about 15 to 20 years. He and NOW Foods have been a long-time Sponsor Member and strong and energetic supporter of the nonprofit research and educational mission of ABC.
Jim’s and NOWs interests in and support for various research, educational and sustainability initiatives in the natural products, dietary supplements and natural health community are far reaching and empowering. Over the years, Jim’s passionate commitment to research and education has made NOW Foods one of the largest supporters of the nonprofit research and educational mission, publications and programs of ABC.
Loren Israelsen, Founder and President, United Natural Product Alliance (UNPA):
I have known Jim since 1995, shortly after DSHEA (Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994). Jim has led NOW’s growth based on several core principles: product quality, a deep commitment to the natural product community financially, politically and personally. The name Jim Emme is synonymous with being the first one in and the last one out, leading by example. He has always been the first to support UNPA in times of urgency.
Jim and the Richard family are resolute in remaining a family business (and recently became an ESOP) to support their employees. The siren call of private equity has not swayed NOW. We have always needed, and will continue to need, strong leaders with discipline, vision and wisdom. These are hallmarks of Jim’s impact on the natural products industry.
In 2014, our UNPA Retreat was in Santa Fe, NM. At that time Amazon was roiling the industry, companies struggling to decide whether to sell on Amazon or resist and support the independent retailer and practitioner. Jim gave a master class in how we should think this through, based on data, consumer trends, rapid evolution of social media and technology, and the impact on the culture of our industry. I have yet to hear a more lucid treatment of the subject since.
From Small Farm to CEO
Jim Emme grew up on a small, multi-generational farm in Rush County, IN, a county of about 10,000 people. Most residents there either worked a farm or supported farming.
“I learned a lot, including the importance of community and [the natural products] industry is a community. We learned to help each other out—if a farmer became ill, you would pitch in to help. That’s good servant leadership.”
While the experience provided a strong foundation in community and family ownership, Emme still faced a hurdle at NOW. His biggest challenge, he said, was when taking over as CEO. “The staff didn’t see me as CEO. Elwood Richard was still alive, and Al Powers was recognized as an industry icon. I was intimidated by following them.”
Richard and Powers showed strategic genius, Emme noted, “but I know how to execute plans.” And he enlisted help from an executive coach.
He added, “They left things in pretty good shape for me. There was a great team in place.” Emme said he also looked to Richard’s original values to provide focus. “His tenants stand to this day. They work pretty well.”
