Carl Pfleger

Carl Pfleger

Board Member

Carl Pfleger has served in the international and global executive ranks of consumer goods leader, PepsiCo, for decades. Most recently, as Vice-President of Global Operations, he served as executive sponsor for teams providing globally leveraged services and governance across multiple supply chain functions including: Manufacturing, Environmental Sustainability, Agriculture, Engineering, Supply Chain Planning, Warehousing, Quality Control, Health & Safety, and Innovation Commercialization. During his broad and deep 36-year career with PepsiCo, Carl made significant contributions to business & strategic planning, corporate function start-ups, operating excellence, and external stakeholder engagement. Prior to his corporate roles, Carl honed his skills during multiple field assignments within the USA and abroad including “hands-on” field leadership with direct P&L ownership, entrepreneurial approaches in turn-around situations, and new business start-ups in volatile international environments. As part of his responsibilities Carl was the corporation’s global executive sponsor for their sustainable agriculture programs, and the Environmental Plank Leader for PepsiCo’s Performance with Purpose sustainability initiative having direct influence with the company’s c-suite executive leadership team. He is best known for his pragmatic and passionate leadership as well as for tackling new, unique, or challenging supply chain situations. 

Carl is a founding member of the Sustainability Advisory Board for Penn State University’s (PSU) Smeal College of Business and is an active advisor to PSU’s Sustainability Institute since its inception. He is a strong advocate for leveraging sustainability to drive broad business value and is a passionate believer in the private sector’s role to advance societal goals through innovative, collaborative, and mutually beneficial partnerships. In his “Active” retirement, Carl, focuses his consulting efforts on his passions for Operational Excellence and Sustainability. He is currently engaged advancing the Event Sustainability industry working with the National Football League as well as an academic partner at Penn State University. Additionally, Carl advises new start-up organizations on business and supply chain strategies.

Carl lives in Ridgefield, CT with his wife Kim, of 27 years. They have two daughters Britteny and Danielle. He is an avid global traveler and enjoys spending his leisure time boating, water-skiing, scuba diving, snow-skiing, gardening, & woodworking.