POCATELLO — Idaho State University will award Melaleuca founder and executive chairman Frank Vandersloot an honorary doctorate degree at the school’s spring commencement ceremonies Saturday at the ICCU Dome.

Throughout his career Vandersloot has built Melaleuca Wellness Company into one of the world’s leading online retailers of natural home, health and personal care products. The company has been in business for 40 years with a mission “to enhance the lives of those we touch by helping people reach their goals.”

Melaleuca offers a unique direct referral marketing approach where people can work hard and accomplish their goals. Unlike multi-level marketing there is no investment or inventory required — members refer customers to products they buy directly from the company.

“It can’t be about the money,” Vandersloot said in an ISU news release. “It has to be about improving lives. We built a model where the best producer wins. The hardest worker wins. And no one loses.”

Vandersloot is a nationally recognized businessman who has served on the executive board of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He also operates Riverbend Ranch — a cattle operation he built to give his family a taste of the ranching life he grew up with.

The Melaleuca Foundation — the charitable arm of the company — has raised millions of dollars for disaster relief, feeding the hungry, honoring veterans, soldiers and first responders, improving education and providing humanitarian aid.

“We’ve been blessed with great people who have thrown in with us,” Vandersloot said in the news release. “I don’t know why these blessings happen. Success is a blessing. Failure just means you need to change your approach.”

He continued, “Every trial, everything that looks bad, it’s right before the best thing. When you hit the downs, there’s something great right around the corner.”

He said his biggest joy in life is his family.

“I have the most wonderful life,” Vandersloot said. “When a man has a wife and family who love him, it’s an amazing feeling. I can’t imagine heaven being better than this.”