Michele Buck

Your next promotion won’t come from doing your job.

It’ll come from doing the job no one wants.

Owning what’s broken, and turning it into your breakout moment.

That’s exactly what Michele Buck did… and now she’s running a $47B company.

Michele didn’t come from privilege.

Her mom was raised on a farm with no indoor plumbing.

Her dad, the first in his family to earn a high school diploma, put himself through college after serving in the military.

Michele watched them work hard for everything and followed suit.

By age 12, she had a paper route.

In her teens, she babysat, waitressed, sold Avon door to door.
“Each job taught me something new. I loved learning, and I loved the sense of independence.”

She worked 20 hours a week to put herself through Shippensburg University, then went on to earn her MBA at UNC Chapel Hill.

After 17 years at Kraft and PepsiCo, she joined Hershey in 2005.

One of her earliest wins?

Turning around a struggling unionized plant without any technical background.

“I had to be resourceful. I listened. I empowered the employees. That plant gave me the greatest reward of my career, a handmade plaque that said, ‘Our loss is their gain.’”

In 2017, she made history as the first woman to become CEO of The Hershey Company.

She set a bold new vision: transform Hershey from a confectionery legacy into a modern snacking powerhouse.

“Even if you’re doing great things, you can’t stand still. You have to evolve or risk becoming irrelevant.”

Under her leadership, Hershey doubled its market cap and made its largest-ever acquisition: a $1.6B deal for Amplify Snack Brands.

She also led with a radically people-first approach.

When the pandemic hit, she focused on two priorities: employee wellbeing and seizing opportunity.

“We could either manage the crisis or look for ways to rise to the moment"

And they did.

Michele also redefined internal leadership, elevating managers buried deep in the org chart (people without fancy titles but with bold ideas) and put them in charge of Hershey’s biggest initiatives.

“They weren’t always the most senior people but they could see the future. I paired them with great executors, and made sure their voices were heard.”

In 2026, Michele will step down after 20 years with the company.

“I don’t think of myself as a female CEO. I think of myself as a leader who listens, inspires, and sets a vision.”