Chuck Slaughter

Chuck is the Founder and CEO of Living Goods, a social enterprise that is harnessing the power of micro-franchising to build a sustainable distribution platform for products designed to fight poverty and disease in the developing world.

Prior to launching Living Goods, Chuck founded TravelSmith and grew it to over 2 million customers and $100 million in sales. After selling TravelSmith in 2004, Chuck devoted his entrepreneurial instincts to building vibrant enterprises in both the private and social sectors. In affiliation with the private equity firm Golden Gate Capital, he participated in the acquisition and turnaround of 10 major apparel brands with combined sales over $2 billion, including Spiegel, Newport News, Norm Thompson and Express. As pro-bono president, Chuck led the turnaround of the HealthStore/CFW Shops, a system of micro-franchised clinics serving the poor in Kenya. While working in Kenya Chuck witnessed the limits of storefront models and developed the idea for Living Goods -– the “Avon for pro-poor products.” Living Goods supports networks of "Avon-like" women entrepreneurs who earn an income going door-to-door selling a wide range of life-saving and life-changing products at prices affordable to poor consumers. Living Goods aims to be a 100-percent financially sustainable system for defeating disease and poverty in the developing world. Chuck currently serves on the boards of The Initiative for Global Development, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Three Day Blinds and Living Goods, and is a former board member of Spiegel Brands. He is a recipient of the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and is a Draper Richards Fellow. He has spoken at many venues including the Clinton Global Initiative, Global Philanthropy Forum, World Affairs Council, Yale, Harvard, and Stanford, among others. Chuck earned both a B.A. and a Master’s in Public and Private Management from Yale. He resides in California with his wife Molly and sons Cooper, Riley and Jackson.