Cindi Bigelow is the third generation President and CEO of family-owned Bigelow Tea. Before assuming this key role in 2005, Cindi spent 25 years in all areas of the company her grandmother founded in 1945. Headquartered in Fairfield, Conn., Bigelow Tea is the national market leader of specialty teas and maker of “Constant Comment”® tea. The company remains a family-owned business and employs 350 people across three manufacturing facilities, producing over 1.7 billion tea bags annually.
Socially-minded, Cindi has lead the company’s greening efforts have included the installation of 880 photovoltaic solar panels that provide 15 percent of the electricity at the company headquarters in Fairfield. Other initiatives to conserve water and natural gas across all three Bigelow plants have earned Bigelow Tea the designation in 2012 of being a “Zero Waste to Landfill” company.
Cindi initiated the Annual Bigelow Tea Community Challenge in 1987 that has donated nearly $1.1 million to local charities since inception and Bigelow’s Tea for the Troops Project that to date has donated 4 million tea bags to US service men and women. She spearheaded the Page 2 of 2 Cindi Bigelow Bio – continued creation of Sandcastle Playground in 1996, a landmark wooden village playground in Fairfield. Annually recurring volunteer projects include Habitat for Humanity, Adopt-a-Home through the Kennedy Center and Appalachian projects.
A passionate advocate for education, Cindi makes frequent classroom appearances speaking to students about business, business ethics and career development and has been the keynote speaker at the Greenbrier Women in Leadership Conference, Network of Executive Women’s Conference, Powerful Women in Business Conference, 2013 Fairfield University Awards Dinner, Boston College Alumni Career Day, UConn’s Connecticut Celebrates Women Entrepreneurs, University of Bridgeport Executive Speaker Series, the 2014 Conversations with Extraordinary Women Conference and The Thomas Merton Center’s Celebrity Breakfast. She has also made several appearances on the Imus in the Morning program and Fox Business Network’s After the Bell. She served on Bridgeport and Fairfield Boards of Directors, Boston College Board of Alumni, Bridgeport Regional Council, Bank of America Neighborhood Excellence Initiative Committee and is the “Champion” for Connecticut’s first Center for Family Justice that will provide one-stop crisis management services to victims of domestic violence. Cindi holds a bachelor’s degree from Boston College, MBA from Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management and Honorary Doctorate from the University of New Haven.
Her numerous awards include the 2014 Walter Wheeler Jr. Leadership Award, 2014 Best in the State Connecticut Philanthropy Award, 2014 John Winthrop Wright Ethics in Action Award, 2013 WEDC Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence, 2012 Woman of Influence in the Food Industry, 2010 Notable Women in Business Award, Mass Mutual and UCONN Family Business of the Year, Ernst & Young Socially Responsible Entrepreneur of the Year, Girl Scouts’ Woman of Distinction. The Cardinal Shehan Center, Operation Hope, Beardsley Park Zoo’s Red Ribbon Ball have honored her for her community service. Channel 12 News featured her as “Hometown Hero.”
When she’s not working, Cindi enjoys being with her children, skiing, tennis, yoga and, of course, drinking lot and lots of tea.