Episode 144: Melodie Nakhle | Taking Risks, Building Your Network and Leading Globally

Melodie Nakhle has spent her entire career not only transforming products impacting day-to-day living for people around the world, but also the organizations behind them. Look around your home. From the appliances in your kitchen to the tiles on your floor to the health and wellness products in your cabinets, Melodie Nakhle has expert knowledge on how it works, why you love it, and how it ultimately landed in your home. Her professional journey can be considered a playbook on global citizenship and radical change. She has lived and worked on four continents, and is fluent in English, Spanish, and Italian.

Nakhle is currently the Vice President, Sales and Chief Sales Officer for Amway, Inc., the world’s No.1 direct selling business with sales of $8B in over 100 countries. In her role, Nakhle is responsible for leading the sales function for the $1B Japanese market including managing key accounts, sales force training, event planning and execution, customer care and service, and sales compensation. She oversees a total budget of $100M and a massive distributor sales force of over 700,000 people.

Nakhle’s most recent campaign for Amway Japan, “Osusowake,” was named one of the world’s 40 best integrated marketing campaigns by R3 Worldwide. The campaign also received coveted industry recognition as a 2016 APAC EFFIE Award Finalist.

Prior to her current role, Nakhle was the Regional Chief Experience Officer for the Asia Pacific Region where she was responsible for digital and growth strategies, and leading all promotional initiatives. She was also Director, Marketing/New Business Development for Japan where she successfully led a business turnaround for the market, achieving growth after a 10-year decline and led activations with talent including Jon Bon Jovi and Jennifer Lopez. Her career at Amway began as Global Brand Manager for Nutrilite.

A self-described change champion, Nakhle’s reputation as a global leader with an ability to navigate complex corporate structures while tackling and implementing big changes was developed long before she arrived at Amway. As Director of Global Marketing for Florim Ceramiche, a global leader in premium design ceramic tiles with flagship stores in Milan, New York, and Moscow, Nakhle managed a €10M budget and team of 30 globally. She reduced costs, expenditures, and time to market while improving ROI and customer service. She also spearheaded the grand opening of Florim Solutions flagship showroom for their US headquarters in Atlanta.

Nakhle dedicated almost 10 years during her early career to the Whirlpool Corporation, rising from Fabric Care Technician to Senior Category Manager. Two of those years were spent as a textile engineer at the company’s Germany office. Her work as a senior marketing leader responsible for multi-million dollar category portfolios produced integrated marketing campaigns that garnered industry recognition as best- in-class.

Nakhle earned her MBA from the University of Illinois-Chicago, and received her Bachelor of Science degree in Health Psychology from Andrews University. She is an avid marathon runner, wife and mom of two.