Cindi R. Bigelow, President & CEO, Bigelow Tea
Cindi Bigelow is the 3rd generation President & CEO of family-owned Bigelow Tea, the US market leader of specialty teas.
Before assuming this key role in 2005, Cindi Bigelow spent nearly 20 years in all areas of the company that her grandmother founded in 1945. Headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, with additional manufacturing plants in Idaho and Kentucky. Bigelow Tea is the national market leader of specialty teas and maker of “Constant Comment”® tea. The company remains a 100% family-owned business and employs 450 people across three manufacturing facilities, producing over 2 billion tea bags annually.
Dedicated to preserving the exceptional quality of her family’s tea recipes, Cindi has traveled the world to source the finest ingredients.
Her journey has led her to tea estates in the Assam and Darjeeling regions of India, as well as to Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Thailand, and China, where the Bigelow family has cultivated enduring connections over time. In Calabria, Italy, Cindi has continued to nurture long-standing relationships with family-owned bergamot orchards, friends of Bigelow Tea for generations. Her travels in the U.S. have brought her to family farms in California, Nebraska, and Oregon, further strengthening those bonds. Each trek has been a step in fostering and expanding long-term partnerships, ensuring that every cup of Bigelow Tea is made with only the finest teas and botanicals.
Cindi has consistently improved company performance by strategically expanding into the U.S. and international markets, as well as tapping into natural and e-commerce channels where all growth has been driven by her focus on innovative product development. This includes adding new blends to the signature and organic lines, launching seasonal teas, and bringing to market wellness and immune support teas that feature ingredients with functional benefits. Cindi’s efforts have also included the release of Botanicals Cold Water Infusion that features a line of gentle herbal infusions designed to work with cold water.
With a major focus on sustainability, Cindi continues to champion sustainable practices throughout the organization, with Bigelow becoming Certified B Corporation in 2019. In 2020, Bigelow Tea also earned the designation of being a Green-e® Certified company, using 100% renewable energy for all Bigelow locations in the United States. Additional emphasis on recycling and composting earned Bigelow Tea the designation of being a “Zero Waste to Landfill” company in 2012. The organization received recertification B Corp status in 2022.
Cindi initiated the Annual Bigelow Tea Community Challenge in 1988 that has donated over $2.5 million to 23 local charities since its inception, and Bigelow’s Tea for the Troops Project which to date has donated almost 9.5 million tea bags to US service men and women. She spearheaded the creation of the Sandcastle Playground in Fairfield, a landmark 12,000 square foot wooden village playground and is also actively involved in annually recurring volunteer projects which include Appalachian Service project and making dinners for Operation Hope.