The Northamptonshire-based Direct Selling Association (DSA), a UK trade body for direct-to-consumer retailing, has appointed a new chairman to its board.
Simon Bowler, who has been a member of DSA’s Board of Directors since 2015, takes on the role of Chairman alongside his role as Vice President of Global Partner Relations at The Juice Plus+ Company, with which he has worked for 31 years.
Bowler said, “Direct-to-consumer is the channel to watch in the retail world right now, delivering greater relevance to a new generation of consumers who are looking for hyper-personalized shopping experiences. Direct selling is perfectly placed to meet this demand. .
“I look forward to working with the DSA team and with member companies to further develop best practices and continue to educate key stakeholders on the benefits of direct selling as a direct-to-consumer retail strategy.
Bowler succeeds Andy Smith after the end of a nine-year term as Managing Director of Amway UK and Ireland.
Susannah Schofield, Managing Director of the association, added: “Simon brings with him a wealth of experience from an international career specializing in the retail direct sales channel.
“Along with the Board of Directors, I express my sincere thanks to Andy Smith for his dedicated service to the DSA during his nine years as Chairman. During that time he helped oversee a series of significant improvements to industry codes of conduct and undertaken a great deal of work to nurture the next generation of talent in this area of retail.
“On a personal level, I am especially grateful for the guidance and support Andy has given me since I became Managing Director in 2019.”
