Alison Whritenour

After reevaluating her priorities in 2012, Alison Whritenour left her big-city brand manager job with Colgate-Palmolive in New York and moved to Vermont to work for Seventh Generation. Nine years later she became CEO, promoted in July to the helm of the biggest green cleaning brand in the U.S. When the company, which makes essentials from toilet paper to laundry detergent, was acquired by Unilever for about $700 million in 2016, it had some $250 million in annual sales; its revenue has averaged double-digit growth rates for the past 15 years. Whritenour takes over at a time of flux for the industry, as consumer behavior shifts during COVID-19 and the need to battle climate change becomes increasingly urgent—an issue she says the mission-driven Seventh Generation will put front and center.