Kick Butt. Do What's Right. Go Home.

Since the sale of CNS, Morfitt has spent her time on athletic pursuits (running and golf) and family (two teenagers), while serving as an outside director of two companies: Graco (NYSE: GGG), the Minneapolis-based maker of paint-, lubricant-, and other fluid-handling systems; and Thermage (Nasdaq: THRM), a California company that makes and markets medical devices for noninvasive treatment of wrinkles.

You joined Pillsbury in 1982.
MM  Pillsbury was the first round-peg, round-hole experience for me. I stayed there for a long time—16 years. You know, I’m for sale, not for rent. I go places and fall in love with people, fall in love with businesses. As long as I’m growing and learning—I was promoted every one-and-a-half years—I’m having a blast.

Describe the culture at Pillsbury.
MM  One of the fabulous things about Pillsbury was that they continued to recruit at all levels all the time. As a result, it was the kind of company that re-examined itself regularly, and thus made wholesale improvements over and over again. If an executive had a strong orientation toward change and growth, it was a wonderful learning place. That’s where I was when the recruiter called on behalf of CNS.

Were you looking?
MM  No. I had the best job in the world as vice president of Pillsbury’s meals division, the Green Giant and Progresso brands. I was running that business—$1.3 billion in revenue. I kept saying no to the recruiter.

What changed?
MM  After some time, CNS became for me that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a company what I think they all can be. CNS had a great product, some fabulous talent. And the founder [and then-CEO] Dan Cohen was a healthy human being who really did want his company to change. It was a big point of trust for me.

What do you mean by ‘healthy human being’?
MM  Dan was someone who looked in the mirror and knew who he was. He was prepared to live with the consequences of the choices he made. The world is littered with chief operating officers who are hired by founding CEOs to change the company. But it takes a hugely confident CEO to actually let that happen. Usually, they want their company to be bigger and more profitable, but they don’t really want it to change.