Founder of Lifeway Foods
Difficult at times, but rooted in an unwavering determination to succeed, the Lifeway story begins in Russia with Michael Smolyansky at the helm.
After leaving his native land of Russia in 1976 with just a dollar in his pocket and a wife and small daughter, Michael knew that he had his work cut out for him. He arrived in Chicago, and for almost 10 years, he steadily built a career as a successful engineer. It was only after a 1985 trip to Germany in which he had kefir for the first time since leaving Eastern Europe, that he and his wife hatched the idea of making kefir in the United States.
Upon returning to America, he began making the first bottles of kefir. He started out small, creating kefir in his basement, and going on sales calls to Chicago area grocery stores. It was a year later in 1986 that he eventually broke out onto the store shelves, having sold his first order to a Treasure Island outlet.
By 1988, the company was expanding so rapidly, Lifeway needed to
secure financing in order to continue their record growth. Michael
did not know much about the stock market, but after hours of studying
and conversations with friends whose advise went unheeded, Michael
took the company public. As a monument to this day, Lifeway is still
traded on the NASDAQ small caps under the symbol LWAY.Almost 10 years after this initial public offering, Michael's daughter, Julie Smolyansky, joined the Lifeway team as Director of Sales and Marketing, to start spreading the word about kefir. After three production renovations, making Lifeway the largest kefir manufacturer in the country, Lifeway captured a 20% interest from Danone Group (in the U.S. Danon).
Lifeway is currently focused on promoting health and nutrition through educating the public about the benefits of kefir. They have just begun working with a registered dietician to assist in the development of a broader understanding amongst health professionals regarding the link between probiotic health benefits and kefir.
JULIE SMOLYANSKY
President and CEO, Director Lifeway Foods
Julie Smolyansky (32 years old) has been President, CEO and Director of Lifeway Foods – NASDAQ (LWAY); the youngest female CEO of a publicly held firm in history since June 2002. Previously she was the Director of Sales and Marketing for Lifeway Foods, a position she held from September 1997. However, because she is also the daughter of Lifeway founder Michael Smolyansky, one could say Julie has actually been with this successful Chicago Company from the very start. She has vivid memories of being an early “guinea pig,” sampling new flavors and formulations, and traveling to food shows across the country to help her dad as he built his business into the only U.S. Company ever taken public by a Russian immigrant.
Working with her father while he was alive and now to build on his successes and take Lifeway into the next generation is Julie’s focus. In her official position at Lifeway, Julie has begun working toward her ultimate goal to take Lifeway’s healthy, natural and organic kefir products from niche to mainstream with a new marketing, advertising, and public relations campaign that has been directly responsible for the growth of Lifeway Foods in the last 10 years. Under Julie’s direction, Lifeway has seen an increase in sales of over 30 million dollars since she started with Lifeway Foods. Lifeway Foods was selected as Dairy Foods magazine's New Products Company of the Year in 2006. Lifeway Foods was also named 53rd Best Small Company by Forbes 2007, up from 127th in 2006 and 97th Fastest Growing Small Business by Fortune Small Business in 2007, one of only 4 companies to be named four straight years in a row.
Recently named one of Crain’s Chicago Business 40 under 40 (2005), her success is the result of good genes and solid training. Julie is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago (B.A., 1996), where she studied effects of advertising and cultural influences on consumer dieting behavior. She has presented research at the American Psychological Association’s Annual Meeting (1996), and has been a speaker at Nutracon’s Annual Anti-Aging Nutraceutical Conference, Chicwit – a woman’s networking group, and the Global Dairy Congress. Julie is on the Board of Directors for First Juice, a private company that sells organic juice for children and babies. Julie serves on the Board of Directors for several non for profit organizations and member of the board for the International Probiotics Association. She is also a member of several civic organizations including the Economic Club of Chicago. She lives in Chicago and in her spare time, Julie plays tennis and is an avid marathoner and loves spending time near the water.
