by Robert T. Stephan

In 1998, I received a call from my good friend who is an expert in direct selling. He told me about an emerging telephone company called ACN and that he would like me to meet with Co-Founder Robert Stevanovski about providing legal services.

I contacted Mr. Stevanovski and during our conversation I asked him what kind of trouble ACN was in. (As a former Kansas Attorney General, I am most often contacted when there is a consumer protection problem.) Robert advised me that there were no problems and the Co-Founders did not want any. That was refreshing news.

I signed up as a legal consultant to ACN. Subsequent to my commencing my work, Mr. Stevanovski suggested the formation of a legal review team to provide ACN with appropriate legal guidelines. That Legal Advisory Committee (LAC) was formed and presently serving on the LAC are Chris Gorman, former Kentucky Attorney General; Grant Woods, former Arizona Attorney General; Dr. Warren Pengilley, Professor Emeritus, University of Newcastle; the Honorable William P. McKeown, retired Federal Court Judge in Canada, and yours truly.

Legal Advice

It is the function of the LAC to provide legal advice to ACN in regard to proper marketing rules and consumer protection laws regarding direct selling. We confer with Co-Founders Greg Provenzano, Robert Stevanovski, Mike Cupisz, and Tony Cupisz and with Colleen Jones, Global Vice President and General Counsel; Keith Kuder, General Counsel for North America; and other ACN personnel. I want to especially acknowledge Lisa Lezotte, paralegal, and Gerry Layson, legal assistant, for their excellent work and support.

ACN operates its business opportunity in accordance with legal requirements and expects Independent Representatives to comply with the rules set out in the Independent Representative Agreement and the Policies and Procedures.

As Robert Stevanovski said, “We don’t want any trouble.”