Health-Mor Sold to Longtime Filter Queen Veterans

Strongsville, OH, February 4, 2016 (Newswire.com) - ​Health-Mor, Inc announced the sale of 100% of the shares and ownership stake in its iconic Filter Queen brand of products. The announcement was made last week at the company’s worldwide headquarters in the Cleveland, Ohio suburb of Strongsville. The company was purchased by current President of Worldwide Sales, Dan Duggan, a 38-year veteran of the Filter Queen business. Duggan introduced his partner and minority shareholder Darryn Murphy at the company’s formal Royal Announcement event last Friday, January 22nd.

Health-Mor (aka HMI Industries, HMI Holdings, and Filter Queen Products) was founded in 1928 in Chicago, Illinois and has manufactured the high end Filter Queen Majestic floor care and Defender air cleaner products in facilities in and around Cleveland since the early 1950’s. The worldwide direct sales company moved its executive headquarters to Cleveland from Chicago in 1990, and later combined the two facilities at its 80,000-square foot World Headquarters & Manufacturing Plant in Strongsville. All products sold by Health-Mor in over 40 countries around the world have been assembled there since 2000.
Duggan began his career in 1978 right out of high school at the age of 18. He began as a Filter Queen salesman in his native Detroit, Michigan. He quickly decided to postpone college to pursuing a career in direct sales. Duggan became a branch manager for an office in 1979 and became an independent distributor of Filter Queen in Michigan in 1980. He subsequently moved around the country to enjoy promotions in Colorado and Ohio. In 1992, Duggan was named Health-Mor’s Director of Sales, Asia-Pacific where he led some of the company’s fastest growth in history in the Japanese and Korean markets throughout the 1990’s. He spent the last ten years as President of Worldwide Sales, and has traveled to nearly every continent on the globe selling the Filter Queen opportunity.

"We believe that for the first time in the history of our industry and perhaps in the direct sales network, a young person who spent his entire life selling the company's products has grown through the ranks holding every job in the company, to rise up and be able to buy the company he loves. It truly is an American success story and living proof that the American Dream is alive and well in 2016."

Dan Duggan, Chairman & CEO

Duggan and former Health-Mor owner Kirk Foley worked together for nearly two decades before taking the public company private in 2006. Duggan and Foley have been working on the sale and transition of Health-Mor for nearly two years, closing the transaction on December 31, 2015.

In a spirited gathering of over 150 Health-Mor employees, distributors, vendors and friends attending the announcement on January 22nd, Duggan briefly explained the future to those in attendance and many more viewing live via a YouTube broadcast. Said Duggan, “We believe that for the first time in the history of our industry and perhaps in the direct sales network, a young person who spent his entire life selling the company's products has grown through the ranks holding every job in the company, to rise up and be able to buy the company he loves. It truly is an American success story and living proof that the American Dream is alive and well in 2016. We have a great deal of work ahead of us, but everyone can rest assured that this company is going to continue to thrive in the direct sales industry as we continue on our journey to our 100th anniversary in twelve years. This company has always been about giving people an opportunity to succeed in business for themselves and will continue down that same path. 100% of every dollar earned will go back into the Filter Queen business to continue to enhance our product quality, future products and to develop programs that will help our distributors grow their businesses faster and stronger than ever before. These are certainly very exciting times to be a part of the Filter Queen family, whether as an employee of Health-Mor, a vendor, a distributor and anyone associated with any of our independent sales offices around the world.”

Former HMI Chairman and CEO Kirk Foley said he was proud to pass the baton to Duggan and his partner Darryn Murphy. Said Foley, “There isn’t anyone I would have wanted to see run this company more than Dan. He is the only constant of this company since he started 38 years ago. He has continued to climb the ladder and has excelled as an executive in every phase of the business. He was focused on buying this company for over a decade, so it was just a matter of time. When he told me that Darryn was involved, I couldn’t have been more excited. These two young men are the future of Filter Queen and this company has never been in better hands.”

Murphy and his wife Kelly began their Filter Queen careers nearly 25 years ago in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada when they met and began selling the product. As their journey continued, they found themselves working and opening Filter Queen offices throughout Canada before finally settling in Vancouver over a decade ago. The couple has created the largest active Filter Queen organization in the world today and has been Health-Mor’s #1 Distributor for the past five consecutive years. In addition to having offices in every province in Canada, Murphy has also added distributors in China and the Philippines. While Darryn travels the world working to grow his whole goods business and remain the leader in the industry, Kelly manages Health-Mor’s largest aftermarket service program, with a database of over 50,000 active customers who rely on her company to service and maintain their Filter Queen products all across Canada.

The private company does not release financial information or the company’s revenue figures. Details of the sale of Health-Mor were not released to the public. For more information about Health-Mor, please visit www.filterqueen.com. To learn more about Duggan and Murphy’s vision for the future of Filter Queen and to watch the 100 Year Filter Queen Recommitment announcement, please visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ1yvQkh1to