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Author and productivity consultant Denis Waitley once said success in life comes not from holding a good hand, but in playing a poor hand well.
He might have been referring to his own credentials.
While Waitley, 73, toured the country revealing the secrets to success in books like Winner's Edge and Seeds of Greatness, he neglected to mention an embellishment or two in his own biography. The Californian does not have a master's degree and his Ph.D. appears to be from a now-defunct and never-accredited university.
The revelations, reported last week by a private investigator, have cost Waitley his position on the Usana Health Sciences board of directors, and further damaged the credibility of the Salt Lake City supplements maker.
Usana shares tumbled $3.52 in Friday trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market. At $46.87, the stock is at its lowest level since Nov. 17.
Waitley did not respond to a phone message and e-mail seeking comment Saturday. His company Web site shows he is speaking at a corporate event in Las Vegas.
In a statement issued Friday, Usana officials said they "regretfully acknowledged" Waitley's decision to retire from the board when his term ends April 17, commending his contributions to building their business. "Denis's lifetime of accomplishments speak for themselves," board Chairman Myron Wentz added.
Waitley has served as a company consultant and spokesman since September 1996, according to corporate filings. He joined Usana's board in May 2000. The consulting contract pays him $150 per year and expires in September 2008. Waitley cashed out $2.4 million in stock options in 2006. Waitley's departure from the board will not affect his consulting work, spokesman Joe Poulos said Saturday.
Waitley acknowledged to the company that he does not, as stated in documents sent to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, have a master's degree from the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, Calif. He affirmed that he earned a bachelor's degree from the U.S. Naval Academy and a Ph.D. from La Jolla University, Usana said.
Questions about Waitley's credentials were first reported by Barry Minkow, a stock-fraud felon turned private investigator who has purchased "put" options on Usana's stock in hopes that its price will fall. The credentials report was a follow-up to Minkow's 500-page critique of Usana, in which he called the company's multilevel marketing model an unsustainable "pyramid scheme."
Minkow's allegations have prompted an informal SEC investigation into the company and led Usana to sue him for defamation.
On Wednesday, Minkow published the results of Waitley's background check on his Fraud Discovery Institute Web site. In addition to not being able to verify Waitley's master's degree, investigators could find no record of La Jolla University in its databases of current accredited institutions of higher learning. Nor does the school appear in the databases of the State of California Bureau for Private Post-Secondary & Vocational Education, the service hired by Minkow found.
"Despite extensive database searches, no working telephone number was found for this school," it said. "Accordingly, it was not possible to verify that the search subject graduated with the stated degree from this institution."
Waitley boasts on his Web site that he has counseled POWs, Superbowl champions and Olympic athletes. The site does not, however, mention a master's degree. Nor do earlier reincarnations examined by The Salt Lake Tribune.