GET TO KNOW dōTERRA CORPORATE
Tim Valentiner— Director of Strategic Sourcing—
FEATURE ARTICLE
GET TO KNOW dōTERRA CORPORATE
Tim Valentiner— Director of Strategic Sourcing—
Originally from Utah, Tim Valentiner became involved at a young age with humanitarian work, primarily in Mexico, as his parents encouraged their family to volunteer. Tim became passionate about working in poverty and international development after living in Bolivia for two years as a missionary for his church. Following completion of his bachelor’ s degree in political science at the University of Utah, he moved to Washington, D. C., where he worked on economic development projects in Latin America funded through USAID.
Tim then earned his master’ s degree from The Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, studying economics and international relations. Following graduation, he worked in the agriculture and rural development unit at The World Bank, where his work concentrated on promoting small-scale farmers, biodiversity conservation, and natural resource management. He then moved back to Utah to work with a start-up company, focusing on improved agriculture and irrigation technologies in developing countries.
When Tim was introduced to dōTERRA, he was unfamiliar with essential oils but was passionate about continuing to work with small-scale farmers in developing countries. He was intrigued by dōTERRA as he saw the company’ s focus on sourcing raw materials and plants from the countries where those plants grow best— which included many unique and impoverished areas around the world. As the goal of dōTERRA has always been to become as vertically integrated as possible in the supply chain for our oils, Tim was thrilled to join dōTERRA as the Director of Strategic Sourcing in 2013 to help lead our oil sourcing efforts, and also to continue the dōTERRA mission of doing good in the world through our socially responsible and sustainable sourcing program known as Co-Impact Sourcing ®.
What does your role at dōTERRA entail? Our team’ s job is essentially to ensure that we don’ t run out of oil— which is no small task! We also make certain that we can consistently source the highest quality essential oils in a socially responsible and sustainable way. Ultimately, we work to ensure that we can continue supporting the tremendous growth of the company through strategic planning and developing long-term partnerships with distillers and farmers around the world.
What advice would you give our Wellness Advocates? Dig deep and share all of the great content available to you on www. sourcetoyou. com. We’ ve developed this website to help tell our sourcing stories more effectively and to provide meaningful, relevant content about where and from whom our oils come. We’ re passionate about raising awareness about sourcing and the partners we work with, and we will continue to update this website regularly.
Who are your role models? My most influential role models have always been my amazing parents and their commitment to giving back and doing good, both in local and global communities. I hope to be more like them in all I strive to do! I was also very fortunate to have had in graduate school and in my first jobs in agriculture at The World Bank some very influential mentors whom I still rely on for advice and support. They were very influential people for me and helped me gain a passion and understanding for small-holder agriculture and its impact in addressing poverty and improving rural livelihoods around the world in a powerful way.
What challenges do you face in your position at dōTERRA? Our team’ s primary challenges include keeping up with the growth of the company, and also navigating the different dynamics that exist in every country, for every supply chain, and for every oil. There are different nuances in each of them depending on how and where the oil is produced. There isn’ t a one-size-fits-all solution for all of our relationships or supply chains; each one is dynamic and different, which makes our job challenging yet exciting.
Also, because all of our oils are plant-based and agriculture takes time, turning new farming and distillation growth processes on and off is not easy; keeping up with the growth of dōTERRA requires extensive planning and launching special initiatives like Esseterre Bulgaria and Kenya.
24 dōTERRA ESSENTIAL LEADERSHIP I I NOVEMBER / / DECEMBER 2017