Michael Pellegrino is the Chief Operating Officer of Sargento. Appointed to this role in 2024, Michael is responsible for the Business Units (Consumer Products and Food Service & Ingredients, with revenues of nearly $1.8B), Operations, Innovation, Sales, Supply Chain, and Strategic Planning. His teams have a relentless focus to challenge the status quo, drive growth, and to realize the company’s vision to be the most innovative, best-loved real food company. 

Prior to his current role, Michael led the company’s growth agenda, and strategic planning, as President and Chief Growth Officer. During that time, his team accelerated the growth of the Sargento brand to become the national market-share leader in the retail natural cheese category. He had oversight of the integrated marketing campaigns that made Sargento one of the most recognized brands in the dairy case. He also had responsibility for the ongoing performance of the company’s B2B division, Food Service & Ingredients, partnering with some of the nation’s top casual dining locations, the produce industry, and several consumer packaged goods and meal kit manufacturers.

Previously, Michael spent 20 years with Kraft Foods Inc., where he held a variety of Marketing, Strategy, and General Manager Roles across the Cereals, Cheese, and Pizza Divisions. He also spent time leading the company’s worldwide Strategic Planning process. 

Michael is a member of World 50 – a private community where corporate-level executives discover new ideas by collaborating to find solutions to critical strategic issues. World 50 members come from all corners of the globe and from the most-respected organizations in the world. Early in his career, Michael was among the “Forty Under 40” in Crain’s Chicago Business magazine. Michael holds a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing and an M.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse. 

Outside of Sargento, Michael serves on the board of The Milo’s Tea Company, the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) Advisory Board for Avery Denison, and helps his daughter with her non-profit, The Cycle Project, whose mission is to address Period Poverty across Wisconsin and other parts of the U.S.  He lives in Kohler, Wisconsin with his wife, Maryellen, and their four children.