< About Laura Schauss >

Director of Finance and Operations and Senior Vice President, Corporate Office

Laura has 23 years of experience in the natural products industry. Her career in the industry started out as a clerk for Washington state’s largest health food store, Marlene’s Market & Deli. Within a few years, Laura took on progressively more management responsibilities until she was appointed store manager. While store manager, the health food store won national honors twice as “Store of the Year” in its respective category. Her success attracted the attention of major national manufacturers of dietary supplements.

Finding a new challenge did not take long. Makers of KAL, a California manufacturer of dietary supplements, and at the time one of the nation’s leading brand vitamin manufacturers, offered Laura the challenge of introducing their line of products in a new territory, New England. Laura moved to Boston and soon began calling on stores throughout New England. Within one and a half-years, she opened accounts in virtually every health food in her territory. Her success led to a promotion and a new challenge, that of product training manager for Naturally, Inc., at the time the nation’s leading natural cosmetic’s company. However, the beauty of the Pacific Northwest could not keep Laura away from Washington state for too long, and hence began her career with AIBMR.

Over many years of attending natural product trade shows, Laura always made a point of attending presentations given by AIBMR’s staff. Inspired by the work of the Institute, she was hired in 1984 by AIBMR to work for its publications division, eventually becoming director of its publishing division, including Biosocial Publications and Life Sciences Press. During her tenure, she was responsible for the timely publications of a quarterly peer-review scientific journal and the Institute’s research publications, in addition to stewardship of the division’s printing division, Tacoma Printing Company, which published the scientific works produced by Life Sciences Press. Books published by Life Sciences Press won numerous honors. Laura established accounts with every major book distributor in North America. Due to the complexity of publishing, she also acquired considerable knowledge of numerous computer programs, including typesetting, publishing, graphic’s and accounting software.

From 1991 to 1995, Laura was Operations Director for two national non-profit organizations, Citizens For Health (CFH) and, the American Preventive Medical Association (APMA), both based in the same building in Tacoma, Washington. Her responsibilities included office management, human services, and managing editorship of each organization’s membership newsletter. In 1994, Citizens For Health achieved national recognition by winning the “Award of Excellence in Government Relations” Federal lobbying award given annually to the most effective lobbying organization in the United States by the 25,000-member American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) in Washington, D.C. The award was given in recognition for CFH’s role in organizing major grass roots support in all 50-states for the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994. That bill, despite formidable opposition by special interest groups, eventually passed unanimously in both houses of Congress, and became law in October of that year by President Bill Clinton. Laura also worked with APMA to introduce the Access to Medical Freedom Act in Congress, and direct efforts to demonopolize health care services in the United States. In 1994, Laura’s leadership role in Citizens For Health was recognized by the President and Board of Directors of the National Natural Foods Association (NNFA) as a recipient of the NNFA’s Special Achievement Award.

In 1995, Laura became Operations Director of AIBMR’S Life Sciences Division. Three years later, Laura was promoted to Senior Vice President and Director of Finance and Operations.

Laura’s interests mainly encompass the passion for her husband of 15-1/2 years and the work AIBMR does world-wide.