Anthony Pignatiello
LOADING PORTFOLIO
Open to President, COO, and VP Operations roles · Open to relocation
PRESIDENT · CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER · VP OPERATIONS
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO

Losses turned to profit.
Owners free to grow.

President and turnaround COO with thirty years fixing and growing founder-led manufacturing and consumer-products businesses. The pattern is the same every time: get the margins, the cash, the systems, and the team right, then hand the owner a company built to grow. Most recently, a roughly $2M swing back to profit and positive EBITDA inside 18 months.

See the turnaround -> Email
Anthony Pignatiello
A. PIGNATIELLO
2026
$0M
PROFIT SWING IN ONE TURNAROUND
0%
GROSS MARGIN, UP FROM UNDER 10%
$0M
DIVISION GROWN FROM $8M
0+
YEARS RUNNING THE P&L
ABOUT

The operator founders call.

Anthony Pignatiello has spent his career being brought in to make a business work better. For three decades he has owned the P&L across manufacturing, consumer products, and distribution: a hardwood charcoal maker in Missouri, a grilling-products division in Colorado, and a multi-state wine distributor out of Chicago.

Trained as an electrical engineer, he treats a struggling company the way an engineer treats a broken machine. Find what is actually failing, fix it part by part, and keep going until the whole thing runs on its own. What the owner is left with is a business that makes money, sees its own numbers clearly, and can run without leaning on any one person.

Based in Colorado Springs and open to relocation across the Midwest, South, and Southeast.

THE OPERATING VIEW

Struggling companies usually aren't short on customers.
They're short on margin, cash, and structure.

Founder-led companies tend to outgrow the way they were first run. The sales are usually real and so is the product. What breaks is everything underneath: margins too thin to fund growth, no clear picture of cash, reporting that hides the real problems, and an org chart nobody ever rebuilt. Sort those out and the business stops working against itself, which is exactly the point where it becomes something you can scale, refinance, or sell.

FIX THE BASICS FIRST
THE TURNAROUND, VISUALIZED

One year in. A two million dollar swing.

Missouri Smoke on arrival versus year-end 2024. A business losing roughly $1M a year turned into one making roughly $1M, gross margin climbed from under 10 percent to about 29 percent, and EBITDA went positive within 18 months.

BREAK EVEN -$1M LOSS ON ARRIVAL UNDER 10% MARGIN +$1M PROFIT YEAR-END 2024 29% MARGIN ~$2M SWING POSITIVE EBITDA IN 18 MONTHS
OPERATING LOSS ON ARRIVAL OPERATING PROFIT, YEAR-END 2024
ON ARRIVAL
-$1M
Roughly $1M annual operating loss
Under 10% gross margin
↓
~$2M SWING
POSITIVE EBITDA WITHIN 18 MONTHS
YEAR-END 2024
+$1M
Roughly $1M operating profit
About 29% gross margin
HOW THE WORK GETS DONE

Four things, in this order.

01

Margin and cash

First, stop the bleeding. Smarter pricing, an honest look at which customers actually make money, a rolling cash forecast, and freeing up cash stuck in inventory and slow terms. At Missouri Smoke that took gross margin from under 10 percent to about 29 percent and produced the numbers behind the owner's refinancing.

02

How the work flows

Rebuild the operation itself. Cleaner production flow, standard procedures, automation that pays for itself, and a leaner team. Manufacturing staffing came down from roughly 100-125 to 55-75, and direct reports from 12 to a tight five-person leadership team.

03

Folding in acquisitions

Bring new businesses in without dropping the ball. Due diligence, standing up new facilities, and merging purchasing, systems, and logistics while customers keep getting shipped on time. Three asset deals at Missouri Smoke and six distributor acquisitions earlier at Baum Wine Group.

04

Numbers you can trust

Give everyone a clear view of the business. Right-sized systems in place of bloated or outdated ones, plus dashboards and twice-weekly operating reviews. Once the numbers are trustworthy, every other fix holds.

SELECTED WINS

Proof, in specifics.

01
Named inventor on a U.S. design patent for the Camerons Flip Smoker Box.
02
Grew a product line from under 500 to about 2,000 SKUs.
03
Cut order lead times from five weeks to one.
04
Reduced inventory shrink by about 20 percent.
05
Recovered roughly $1.2M in aged receivables at Baum Wine Group.
06
Consolidated 11 operating entities into three.
07
Led FSC certification behind roughly $5M in certified programs.
08
Built distribution across wholesale, big-box, specialty, and e-commerce.
WHERE THE FIT IS

Built for these situations.

Turnarounds

A business losing money that needs margin, cash, and structure back fast, without bringing operations to a halt.

Getting ready to scale

A profitable, founder-run company that needs real systems and structure before it can grow or raise.

Acquisition integration

Deals that have to be folded in cleanly, from diligence through day-one operations, without losing customers.

Founder handoff

Owners ready to pass day-to-day operations to a general manager they can trust with the full P&L.

FUNCTIONS OWNED AS A GENERAL MANAGER
Divisional P&L Manufacturing Procurement Supply Chain Logistics Finance IT HR Quality Safety Pricing Product Development Global Sourcing Brand Licensing
CAREER

Thirty years running the P&L.

OCT 2022 - PRESENT
Chief Operating Officer
MISSOURI SMOKE LLC · NEOSHO, MO · HARDWOOD CHARCOAL & SMOKING-WOOD MANUFACTURING
Brought in by the founder to get a three-facility manufacturer working properly and ready to sell into national retail. Runs manufacturing, supply chain, procurement, finance, IT, HR, quality, and safety across roughly 250,000 square feet. Turned a roughly $1M annual loss into roughly $1M in profit, reached positive EBITDA within 18 months, folded in three asset acquisitions including a distressed Dale Hollow Charcoal deal and the former Duraflame facility, and led FSC certification behind roughly $5M in certified programs.
$2M PROFIT SWING
29% GROSS MARGIN
3 ACQUISITIONS
JAN 2014 - OCT 2022
President
CAMERONS PRODUCTS LLC · COLORADO SPRINGS, CO · CONSUMER PRODUCTS DIVISION OF SCS DIRECT
Owned the full P&L for an $8M consumer-products division inside a privately held $150M company. Grew it to roughly $20M and turned a $155K loss into a $177K profit in year one and about $1.5M by year two, through more than 20 product launches, licensing deals with well-known grilling brands, and sourcing spread across China and South Korea. Named inventor on a U.S. design patent, with the range growing from under 500 to roughly 2,000 SKUs.
$8M TO $20M
$1.5M PROFIT
U.S. DESIGN PATENT
JAN 2008 - NOV 2013
Vice President, Operations & Business Development
BAUM WINE GROUP · CHICAGO, IL · MULTI-STATE WINE DISTRIBUTION
Held the P&L for the Chicago operation of a $130M to $160M distributor across Illinois, Colorado, and Wisconsin. Consolidated 11 operating entities into three and lifted gross margin from 20.1 to 26.5 percent, led diligence and integration on six distributor acquisitions worth about $15M in revenue, and recovered roughly $1.2M in aged receivables.
11 ENTITIES TO 3
20.1% TO 26.5%
6 ACQUISITIONS
2000 - 2007
Founder & President
BELLA VITA WINES · COLORADO · WINE DISTRIBUTION
Built a Colorado wine distributor to roughly $5M in revenue across retail, restaurant, and wholesale accounts. Later acquired by Baum Wine Group.
$5M BUILT
ACQUIRED
1995 - 2000
VP, Licensing & Business Development
COPPERCOM · GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY LICENSING
Ran global technology licensing, represented the company on international Voice-over-DSL standards committees, and led a corporate merger integration, bringing engineering organizations together while reporting to the CEO.
GLOBAL LICENSING
MERGER INTEGRATION
CREDENTIALS

Education and recognition.

EDUCATION
B.S. Electrical Engineering
Eastwick College
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE
PATENT
U.S. Design Patent
Named inventor, Camerons Flip Smoker Box
CAMERONS PRODUCTS
CERTIFICATION
FSC Chain of Custody
Led certification behind roughly $5M in certified programs
MISSOURI SMOKE
GET IN TOUCH

Ready for the next turnaround.

Open to President, Chief Operating Officer, and VP Operations roles in manufacturing, consumer products, and distribution. Based in Colorado Springs and open to relocation across the Midwest, South, and Southeast.

Email -> LinkedIn