development multi level marketing founded 1998 headquarters colonie new york key people keith raniere founder nancy salzman president 1 products seminars website http www.nxivm.com nxivm n ksi m neks ee m is a multi level marketing company 2 centred on the provision of classes and seminars that encourage clients to pursue a path of personal and professional development . 3 it has been called a successful executive coaching program by some supporters 4 and a cult organization by some former members and news reports . 5 6 based in albany county new york nxivm was founded in 1998 by keith raniere . 7 to date people from 33 countries have taken part in the programs offered . 8 contents 1 history 1.1 dalai lama visit to albany 2 notable clients 3 criticism 3.1 forbes coverage 3.2 litigation 4 references 5 external links history edit the nxivm training system is administered through executive success programs . the training uses a technique called rational inquiry to facilitate personal and professional development . during seminars students refer to keith raniere and nancy salzman as vanguard and prefect respectively . reportedly over 12 000 people have attended the classes between its founding in 1998 and 2010 . 9 dalai lama visit to albany edit the dalai lama s planned visit to albany in 2009 sponsored by the world ethical foundations consortium an organization co founded by sara and clare bronfman and nxivm founder keith raniere was cancelled due to negative press surrounding nxivm . 10 notable clients edit its clients have included linda evans richard branson and actress kristin kreuk . 9 according to forbes magazine 3 700 people had taken part in its executive success program as of 2003 including sheila johnson co founder of bet ; antonia novello former surgeon general of the united states ; stephen cooper of enron ; and ana cristina fox daughter of former mexican president vicente fox . 11 criticism edit forbes coverage edit in october 2003 forbes featured an article focused on nxivm and some involved parties . originally intended to focus on nxivm the piece would also focus on founder keith raniere and his life . the emergence of nxivm came at a time when the demand by executives was at a high with some coaches charging 25 000 a day . 11 the article talked about some of the benefits of the course and went into the concerns of others . critics cited the amount of confidentiality students sign a nondisclosure agreement and the amount of power that raniere has over the operation and the students . a ucla professor described it as a kingdom of sorts and a former student described becoming physically exhausted after going through 17 hour days of workshops and needing to check herself into the hospital . advocates say the workshop sharpens focus and has been described as a practical m.b.a. 11 after the article was released sitrick and company a public relations firm was hired to work on press surrounding the company but would later part ways with nxivm . 12 the initial article resulted in attention for the bronfman family with edgar bronfman sr. sara and clare bronfman having all taken part in courses . edgar who had originally endorsed it had become concerned after seeing his daughters overall involvement in nxivm and then said he think s it is a cult . a 2006 article was released about the bronfman sisters saying that they had taken out a line of credit to loan nxivm us 2 million repayable through personal training sessions from co founder nancy salzman and for salzman being available to take calls from clare . 13 a 2010 follow up article talked about commodities and real estate deals related to raniere advice going awry . in reference to edgar s relationship to his daughters his advisor released a statement saying there has been no change in the excellent relations between edgar m. bronfman and his daughters clare and sara . litigation edit in 2003 nxivm sued the ross institute alleging copyright infringement for publishing excerpts of content from its manual in three critical articles commissioned by cult investigator rick ross and posted on his website . rick ross posted a psychiatrist s assessment of nxivm s secret manual on his website the report called the regimen expensive brainwashing . the manual was obtained by ross from former member stephanie franco a co defendant in the trial who had signed a non disclosure agreement not to divulge information from the manual to others . nxivm filed suits in both new york and new jersey but both were later dismissed . 9 14 references edit nancy salzman . nxivm online . retrieved 2011 11 03 . william d. cohan november 18 2014 . how a strange secretive cult like company is waging legal war against journalists . the nation . retrieved may 27 2015 . nxivm personal development . retrieved 31 march 2011 . fairbanks phil 27 march 2011 . local developer tangled in legal battle . buffalo news . retrieved 19 april 2011 . odato james m. 7 september 2010 . ex nxivm student i think it s a cult . times union . odato james 31 january 2011 . papers reveal nxivm secrets . times union . what is nxivm . nxivm online . 2003 . about nxivm executive success programs inc. . nxivm . retrieved 5 april 2012 . a b c k hler nicholas september 13 2010 . how to lose 100 million . maclean s. retrieved 22 march 2011 . ettkin brian 6 april 2009 . dalai lama cancels his visit to albany . the news times online . retrieved 2 november 2011 . a b c freedman michael 13 october 2003 . cult of personality . forbes . new york . retrieved 2011 11 03 . vardi nathan 29 march 2010 . the bronfmans and the cult . forbes . the bronfmans and the cult . forbes . 13 october 2003 . access date requires url help nxivm corp v ross . legal case . citizen media law company . retrieved 2 10 2012 . check date values in access date help external links edit official website the nxivm files the three critical articles pertaining to the nxivm v. ross institute lawsuit times union special report retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title nxivm & oldid 728674122 categories 1998 establishments in new yorkcompanies based in albany new yorkcompanies established in 1998human potential movementlarge group awareness trainingmulti level marketing companiespersonal developmentprivately held companies based in new yorkhidden categories pages using citations with accessdate and no urlcs1 errors dates navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages espa ol edit links this page was last modified on 6 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