Jorge Carlos Vergara Madrigal (; 3 March 1955 – 15 November 2019) was a Mexican businessman and film producer. He was the founder of the
multi-level marketing
Multi-level marketing (MLM), also called network marketing or pyramid selling, is a controversial marketing strategy for the sale of products or services in which the revenue of the MLM company is derived from a non-salaried workforce selling th ...
company
Grupo Omnilife
Grupo Omnilife is a Guadalajara-based multi-level marketing company that distributed dietary supplements. The corporation is owned by Amaury Vergara, who also owns the football club Las Chivas, CD Guadalajara.
History
Vergara a two American co ...
. In addition to its health products business, Grupo Omnilife owns the
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
club
C.D. Guadalajara
Club Deportivo Guadalajara (); often simply known as Guadalajara () and their nickname ''Chivas'' (), is a Mexican professional football club based in Zapopan, Jalisco. Guadalajara is one of the ten founding members of the Mexican First Divi ...
. Vergara was also owner of Costa Rican football team
Saprissa
Deportivo Saprissa is a Costa Rican sports club, mostly known for its football team. The club is based in San Juan de Tibás, San José, and play their home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá. The team's signature colours are purple ...
(2003–2011) and
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...
club
Chivas USA
Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional soccer team based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California. The club played from 2005 to 2014 in Major League Soccer (MLS) and was a subsidiary of Mexican club C.D. Guada ...
(2004–2014).
Vergara produced internationally recognized films such as ''
The Assassination of Richard Nixon
''The Assassination of Richard Nixon'' is a 2004 American drama film directed by Niels Mueller and starring Sean Penn, Don Cheadle, Jack Thompson and Naomi Watts. It is based on the story of would-be assassin Samuel Byck, who plotted to kill Ric ...
'' and the Oscar-nominated ''
Y Tu Mamá También
Y, or y, is the twenty-fifth and penultimate letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. According to some authorities, it is the sixth (or sevent ...
'' through the production company, Producciones Anhelo.
Career
Business
Born in
Guadalajara
Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...
, Vergara once sold tacos on Mexican streets. Back in the 1980s Vergara sold condominiums and timeshares in
Manzanillo, Mexico, where he met and began working with John Peterson.
When Peterson became a
Herbalife
Herbalife Nutrition Ltd., also called Herbalife International, Inc. (with a U.S. subsidiary called Herbalife International of America) or simply Herbalife, is a global multi-level marketing (MLM) corporation that develops and sells dietary sup ...
salesperson, he recruited Vergara and together they began selling Herbalife products in Mexico. Since Herbalife had not received Mexican government approval to sell their products, Peterson and Vergara had to smuggle the products into the country. After six months of smuggling the products into Mexico, Herbalife took notice and began the process of getting government approval. Vergara was asked to help get the Herbalife products approved by the Mexican government and was instrumental in helping Herbalife's founder,
Mark R. Hughes
Mark R. Hughes (January 1, 1956 – May 21, 2000) was an American entrepreneur who was the founder, chairman, and CEO of Herbalife International Ltd, a multi-level marketing company.
Early life
Hughes was born in La Mirada, California on J ...
deal with the Mexican Government. This gave Vergara insight into how a
multi-level company profits and expands into other countries. Vergara was partners with Roger Daley, Jim Fobair and Charlie Ragus. With already the 51% of the company, Vergara acquired the rest of Omnitrition at the end of the deal with his U.S. partners and took the whole control of Omnitrition de Mexico. Since its foundation in 1991, the privately owned corporation has grown from one company, Omnilife de Mexico, to comprise nineteen companies. Today, approximately 5.2 million people distribute Omnilife products in 22 countries, while the company has reached annual sales of nearly $4.2 billion.
Vergara was the director of Omnilife de Mexico from 1991 to his death.
Film
In 1999, Vergara met film director
Alfonso Cuarón while seeking out filmmakers for his corporate movies. Cuarón, however, was more interested in filming ''Y Tu Mamá También'', and gave Vergara the screenplay. A known lover of films, Vergara read it and right away proposed that they begin production. In the process they established a production company
Producciones Anhelo that would go on to co-produce
Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro Gómez (; born October 9, 1964) is a Mexican filmmaker, author, and actor. He directed the Academy Award–winning fantasy films ''Pan's Labyrinth'' (2006) and ''The Shape of Water'' (2017), winning the Academy Awards for Be ...
's ''
The Devil's Backbone
''The Devil's Backbone'' ( es, El espinazo del diablo) is a 2001 gothic horror film directed by Guillermo del Toro, and written by del Toro, David Muñoz, and Antonio Trashorras.
The film is set in Spain, 1939, during the final year of the ...
'', along with
Pedro Almodóvar
Pedro Almodóvar Caballero (; (often known simply as Almodóvar) born 25 September 1949) is a Spanish filmmaker. His films are marked by melodrama, irreverent humour, bold colour, glossy décor, quotations from popular culture, and complex narr ...
's
El Deseo
El Deseo (also known as El Deseo S.A.) is a film production company owned by Spanish film producers the Almodóvar brothers (Pedro and Agustín). The company has financed all the films directed by Pedro starting from The Law of Desire in 198 ...
and del Toro'
Tequila Gang Anhelo also produced
Sebastián Cordero
Sebastián Cordero Espinosa (; born 23 May 1972) is an Ecuadorian film director, screenwriter and editor, often recognized for his work in '' Ratas, Ratones, Rateros'' (1999), ''Crónicas'' (2004), and '' Europa Report'' (2013). His films have b ...
's ''
Crónicas
''Crónicas'' ("chronicles") is a 2004 Ecuadorian thriller film, written and directed by Sebastián Cordero. The film was produced by, among others, Guillermo del Toro, director of ''Pan's Labyrinth'', and Alfonso Cuarón, director of '' Chi ...
''.
In 2002, ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' named Vergara one of its Ten Producers to Watch. For the 2004 edition of the
Guadalajara International Film Festival
The Guadalajara International Film Festival ( es, Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara) is a week-long film festival held each March in the Mexican city of Guadalajara since 1986.
The presence in Guadalajara of delegates from other impor ...
, Vergara created the JVC Award for Best Director, which was given to Fernando Eimbcke for his feature debut ''
Temporada de patos
''Temporada de patos'' (released as ''Duck Season'' in the United States) is a 2004 Mexican film. It is the first feature film by writer/director, Fernando Eimbcke, a former MTV Awards videoclip director.
After being successfully featured in nat ...
''.
Chivas
Vergara gained ownership of the
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
team C.D. Guadalajara (popularly known as ''Chivas'') in 2002. Shortly after he took ownership in Mexico, while attending the 2004 U.S.
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...
All-Star Game, he announced intentions to expand Chivas to MLS.
Vergara and MLS inaugurated
Chivas USA
Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional soccer team based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California. The club played from 2005 to 2014 in Major League Soccer (MLS) and was a subsidiary of Mexican club C.D. Guada ...
in 2004, and the team played its first official season in 2005 with
Dignity Health Sports Park
Dignity Health Sports Park is a multi-use sports complex located on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills in Carson, California. The complex consists of the 27,000-seat Dignity Health Sports Park soccer stadium, the Dignity ...
in the Los Angeles area as its home stadium. Chivas USA was initially successful; in its first five seasons of operation, the team recorded four straight MLS playoff appearances.
Both performance and attendance declined sharply after 2009.
In August 2012, Vergara and his former wife became sole owners of the club, buying out former partners Antonio and Lorenzo Cué.
On 20 February 2014, Major League Soccer purchased Chivas USA from Vergara. They announced plans to sell to a buyer dedicated to keeping the club in Los Angeles, as well as a plan to rebrand the club. After being unable to find a buyer, the club folded following the 2014 season. A new club,
Los Angeles FC, was founded in 2018, but with no connection to the former
Chivas USA
Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional soccer team based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California. The club played from 2005 to 2014 in Major League Soccer (MLS) and was a subsidiary of Mexican club C.D. Guada ...
club.
Personal life
Vergara had six children.
Vergara divorced Angélica Fuentes Téllez on 21 September 2015. Vergara and Rossana Lerdo de Tejada were married 10 June 2017 in
Guadalajara
Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...
, Mexico.
Death
Vergara died on 15 November 2019 at the age of 64 in New York City as a result of a
cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and possib ...
.
References
External links
"Jorge", the biographical book*
Sitio oficial de OMNILIFEDe qué falleció Jorge Vergara, dueño de Chivas y fundador de Omnilife?
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vergara, Jorge
1955 births
2019 deaths
Mexican football chairmen and investors
Mexican businesspeople
People from Guadalajara, Jalisco
Major League Soccer executives
C.D. Guadalajara
Chivas USA