BrightPet Officially Names Michael Krueger Chief Executive Officer

BrightPet Nutrition Group, a leading provider of branded freeze dried treats and manufacturer of premium and super-premium pet foods and treats for US and international markets, announced today that interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and long-time Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Mike Krueger has officially been named permanent CEO. In addition, BrightPet has brought on pet industry veteran Chris Hamilton—who has held senior executive roles with Red Collar Pet Foods and Mars Inc.—as its Executive Chairman. These appointments, which are part of the company’s long-term, customer-centric initiatives, are both effective immediately.

Mike Krueger, who started at BrightPet in 2017 as Chief Financial Officer and later served as Chief Operating Officer (2019-21), brings more than a decade of senior financial, operational, commercial and strategic experience to the company’s executive team. He has served as interim CEO for the company since November 2024. Prior to his time at BrightPet, Krueger held senior roles with Graham Partners and Ernst and Young (EY).

“It’s an honor to be named CEO of BrightPet, where I have spent the past eight years of my career overseeing strong growth while working with a team of world-class professionals and partners to build a winning organization in the competitive pet industry,” said Krueger. “We will continue to capitalize on BrightPet’s strong heritage as a premium co-manufacturer of pet food and treats. We will focus on strengthening every aspect of our co-manufacturing business while continuing to enhance customer satisfaction through sustained operational excellence and value-added services. Our priorities will continue to be consistent safety, quality and on-time delivery, with the continued goal of being a flexible and dynamic co-manufacturer in the pet industry. We will also continue to strengthen our branded portfolio to enhance R&D, production, marketing and sales. It is exciting to be the leader of a business that I believe is doing things right in today’s pet food industry, and I am bullish about what the future holds for our team members and customers.”

Under Krueger’s leadership, BrightPet created and implemented a structure to support its discrete goals across its broad set of assets and select brands. This strategic focus allowed BrightPet to meet and beat the changing demands of its customers and consumers while also maintaining Stewart’s leading position as a freeze-dried treat brand and Blackwood’s growing presence both domestically and internationally as a leading premium kibble brand. We believe this focus is key to the company’s growth plans, which will be further supported by BrightPet’s appointment of Chris Hamilton as Executive Chairman. Hamilton brings more than 20 years of industry-related leadership across marketing, sales and operations to the company.

Prior to his appointment, Hamilton served as the President and CEO of Red Collar Pet Foods, a US manufacturer of mainstream and premium private label dog and cat food and treats. Before Red Collar, he held a variety of management and senior level roles at Mars Inc., a global manufacturer and distributor of pet care products, as well as food products and confectionaries. He is also founding President and CEO of REÁL MESA, a premium pet food startup. In his role as Executive Chairman, Hamilton will work closely with Krueger and his executive team to help guide BrightPet’s vision and execution.

“I couldn’t be more excited to join this premiere platform led by a group of like-minded leaders and dedicated team members,” said Hamilton. “BrightPet has built a great reputation in the global pet space for its reliable co-manufacturing services, customer-centric approach and ability to launch and scale quality house brands. Now with Mike as its CEO, we believe the company is well positioned to maintain these core principles, which are critical to success in this industry. I look forward to contributing to BrightPet’s growth for years to come and to collaborate with Mike, his team and BrightPet’s private equity sponsor, A&M Capital Partners, to take the business to the next level.”

Today’s leadership announcements follow BrightPet’s January hiring of Al Moss as Chief Operating Officer, an appointment that bolstered the company’s leadership team to support its scaling supply chain processes and enterprise-wide operations. Moss brings more than 25 years of relevant experience to BrightPet, having held senior operating roles with ADM Supply Chain Solutions, Vytalogy, PCI Pharma Services, Coty and BP.

“I want to congratulate Mike on his appointment to permanent CEO and welcome Chris to our motivated team at BrightPet,” said Ryan McCarthy, Partner at A&M Capital Partners. “Under Mike’s guidance, we believe BrightPet is becoming more efficient and consolidating its focus on what the company does best while maintaining high standards for customer satisfaction. We believe his vision and leadership style will pair well with the senior industry expertise of Chris, who is expected to help BrightPet usher in a new era of growth and success. We believe these appointments, along with the addition of Al Moss as COO earlier this year, are major wins for BrightPet, and we look forward to our partnership together.”

To learn more about BrightPet, please visit BrightPet.