Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1195371
6 n e w h a v e n B I Z | J a n u a r y 2 0 2 0 | n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m By Michael C. Bingham O N T H E R E C O R D | Q & A Cindi Bigelow's Moral Authority For the speciality tea brand's third-generation CEO, failure to grow the family business was never an option I n November Cindi Bigelow, president and CEO of Bigelow Tea Co. in Fairfield, was honored with the National Workplace Lifetime Achievement Award from Character.org for inspiring people to develop good character and for her company's sustainability efforts. Bigelow, 59, is the third-generation CEO of the company started by her grandmother, Ruth Campbell Bigelow, in 1945. In the 1960s and '70s, her son David and his wife Eunice built the company into a national brand by marketing specialty teas to a mass market through grocery distribution. e couple remain co-chairs of the company, which produces some 2 billion bags of 150 tea varieties annually and employs 400 workers. eir daughter Cindi was graduated from Boston College and earned an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Business. Aer a stint in sales for Seagram's, she came home to the family business at age 26 and worked in positions of increasing responsibility before becoming chief executive in 2005 at age 42. Of assuming the top position in the family business, she observed, "Failure wasn't an option." NHB Editor Michael C. Bingham interviewed Bigelow for ON THE RECORD. Bigelow is not a giant company — 400 employees — but I don't know another CEO with a larger visibility/mindshare per employee. I take the potential impact I can have — both with my own teammates [employees] and in the community — very seriously. You have to understand that you're always in a position to influence somebody, so you had better be a good role model. What made you decide to become the public face of the company, and why? When I took over [as presi- dent and CEO] in 2005, we had