Michael L. Sheffield, CMC

Founder and MLM Consultant

Michael Sheffield is President of The Sheffield Group, an internationally recognized Direct Sales and Multi Level Marketing consulting firm focusing on startup operations, compensation plan design and product line development. His firm has provided marketing and management consulting to over 800 MLM, Party Plan and Direct Sales companies in the U.S. and abroad. He has worked internationally assisting companies in Norway, Russia, England, Germany, Holland, South Africa, China, Philippines, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Venezuela, India, Thailand and Japan.

Background & Early Career

Sheffield began his career as a successful distributor and then later founded two successful Network Marketing companies with combined sales exceeding $30,000,000.

As a leading spokesperson for the MLM industry, Mr. Sheffield conducts seminars and lectures worldwide. He has to his credit numerous appearances on television as well as radio including the Business Radio Network as expert MLM business analyst. He has also appeared as guest lecturer at the Schools of Business at Arizona State University, University of California at Berkeley, University of Cincinnati, California Lutheran University, the University of Texas, and Anderson University. In addition, Mr. Sheffield has been a staff instructor on MLM compensation plans and marketing strategies at the Graduate School of Business at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In 1998, he was selected to make a presentation on behalf of Multi Level Marketing at the Harvard Business School Association Symposium. He is one of the few Certified Management Consultants (CMC) with a specific emphasis on the network marketing industry. Certification is granted by the National Bureau of Professional Management Consultants.

In 1998 and again in 1999, he organized and sponsored two important MLM events on the campus of the University of Texas at El Paso. “Organizing for the Future I and II” were successful academic conferences geared toward an intimate interaction of the university business school faculty and MLM corporate executives to stimulate a better understanding and eventual classroom acceptance of MLM as an alternative method of product distribution.

Accredited Publications

His writings have appeared in many national publications including Network Marketing Lifestyles, The Direct Sales Journal, WealthBuilding Magazine, MLM News Magazine, Product Launch Magazine, Powerline Magazine, and Network Marketing Business Journal. His regular column in Network Marketing Business Journal, called “Product of the Month,” has served as an independent review of the product lines of over 100 U.S. and foreign based MLM companies over the past fifteen years. He has been the subject of feature articles in Success Magazine, Network Marketing Lifestyles, Business Start-Ups and Entrepreneur Magazine. He also served as the Direct Sales and MLM expert for Entrepreneur Magazine’s website, Entrepreneur.com.

Mr. Sheffield has received numerous honors including MLMIA’s President’s Award for Industry Support as well as the Association’s prestigious Consultant of the Year award. He is a Co-Founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Multi Level Marketing International Association. In 2001 he was inducted into the MLMIA Hall of Fame and received the MLMIA’s Best of the Best Award in 2011.

Debbie Stenmoe

Vice President of Operations

As a top executive with The Sheffield Group since 1998, Debbie has been devoted to the continuing success of the company. She has earned the respect and admiration of her peers while working her way from Director of Client Services to overseeing the entire company business activities. It is clear to every Sheffield client that she is an invaluable asset. Debbie handles the day-to-day operations of the company and works directly with President, Michael Sheffield on all financial matters. She seamlessly ensures that client deliverables are met on time and with the quality associated with the Sheffield work product.

Prior to relocating to Arizona, Debbie had a distinguished career at the New York City Comptroller’s Office. During her 15 year years there, she had progressively increased responsibilities, including managing a 1,500 LAN user help desk, providing software training and being a solutions-oriented member of the MIS team. She was instrumental in helping to implement a state-of-the-art optical imaging system developed for the Comptroller’s office. Debbie understands time management principles, multitasking and the art of negotiation and follow-up. She manages the Sheffield internal staff to ensure that all client timelines are met and the business is running smoothly and successfully.

Chris Sheffield

Director of Client Services

For over 25 years, Chris Sheffield has served the direct selling industry as a professional in every facet of business. Chris began his career in sales during his college years earning his way through college in door-to-door direct selling. He then became a distributor for an MLM nutritional company, building a sales organization of several thousand independent distributors and becoming one of the top ranked people in the company.

Chris then took on the responsibility as national sales manager for a nationally known security products company, where he eventually bought the company and became its CEO and president. During this time, he built a national sales force of professional direct sales people providing personal protection classes and seminars for clubs, professional organizations, and business groups throughout America. This created over 100,000 customers for his security products and generated millions of dollars in sales.

Later, while this business continued under trusted family management, Chris took on the responsibility of pioneering the US marketing launch of laser correction vision surgery using creative MLM recruiting techniques to assemble a distributor force of referral agents. The company went on to set the trend for this medical procedure in the US and become the largest provider of its kind.

With his security products company still under family management, Chris has joined his brother, Michael Sheffield, as the Director of Client Services and Chief Relationship Consultant. The Sheffield Group has experienced explosive growth since Chris joined the staff. Chris is the first contact for each potential new client because of his extreme skills in discerning their particular needs and determining specific areas where the Sheffield Team might best serve the client’s future success. He is truly The Sheffield Group’s top “Relationship Consultant”.

Garvin DeShazer

Consultant

Garvin DeShazer has nearly 30 years experience as an entrepreneur. With 26 startups or acquisitions of his own, in industries ranging from alternative fuels to fine arts, he has extensive experience in business plan development, capital fund raising, hiring key people, managing teams, creative marketing and driving sales.

As a former client of The Sheffield Group, Garvin knows first-hand the challenges of a direct selling company owner. With Mike’s help in the early 1990s, Garvin’s company became one of the fastest growing home security businesses in America. However, he chose to ignore Mike’s advice about being single sourced and quickly outgrew his manufacturer’s ability to keep up with his distributors’ demands. His company collapsed in 1994.

Promoting the concept that “scar tissue has value,” Garvin joined The Sheffield Group in 1995. Over the next four years, he served as Senior Consultant for more than 60 companies that ultimately represented almost two million distributors. In the process, he played an important role in helping The Sheffield Group become the leading MLM consulting organization in the world.

After receiving a financial windfall in 1998, Garvin took a few years to travel and volunteer with non-profit organizations. He re-joined the Sheffield team, where he supports clients with his unique skills in strategic planning, creative writing and project management.

Davene Peruzzini

Director of Project Management

Clients of The Sheffield Group expect the highest level of professionalism from their consulting team. Davene Peruzzini sees that they get it. As Director of Project Management, Davene establishes priorities, allocates resources, manages workflow and makes certain deadlines are met. She is also the “Keeper of the Calendar”, coordinating the schedules of the Sheffield Team with client needs to assure everyone gets the time and focus they need, when they need it. And, she does it all with grace, wit and wisdom.

This Youngstown State University alumnus has contributed a wealth of experience since joining The Sheffield Group in 2005. Davene has an extensive background in all aspects of Customer Service, Employee Services, and Office Management. In addition to holding each member of the Sheffield team to account for timely production of deliverables, she gently reminds and frequently assists clients in keeping all parts of their projects moving forward. It is no exaggeration to describe her as The Sheffield Group’s standard bearer for effectiveness and achievement.

When Davene isn’t at work helping Sheffield’s clients and staff, she passionately supports the Girl Scouts of America and has received an Outstanding Volunteer Award for her many contributions to today’s youth.

Dan Lundell

Executive Consultant

Dan Lundell is the newest member of the Sheffield Team. Dan was a client of The Sheffield Group in 2007, when he, along with several other co-founders, started their own network marketing company. That company continues to operate successfully today. After serving as VP of Operations, COO, CFO, Director, and eventually President and CEO, Dan now serves as that company’s Chairman and consults on operational issues as needed. He has dedicated the bulk of his time to Sheffield client projects. Dan specializes in Operations and IT systems strategy and integration. He is experienced in all other functional areas from capitalization and finance, to marketing and sales management. Dan also has experience with public company matters ranging from audit and compliance to financial reporting to investor relations. He has been active recently in mergers and acquisitions and has valuable experience and insights in diligence gathering, acquire or merge strategy, as well as operational and cultural integration issues.

The Sheffield Group: The MLM Specialist Team