Michael Cammarata co-founded Schmidt's Naturals, an all-natural deodorant brand, in 2014 after investing in a small Oregon company that sold deodorant in jars at farmers markets. He scaled it to more than 14,000 US retail outlets before Unilever acquired the company in December 2017 and named him CEO. He left Schmidt's in 2019 to become CEO of Neptune Wellness Solutions, a publicly traded wellness company, a role he held until February 2024.
How Did Michael Cammarata Start as an Entrepreneur?
Michael Cammarata earned his first million dollars at age 13 and invested the capital across biotechnology, entertainment, advertising, and electronics. He struggled with dyslexia as a child, which led some teachers to mark correct answers wrong simply because he reached them through a different process.
At age 11, Cammarata met a group of people through the video game Starcraft, introduced to him by Jeff Barrett, and the network he built through that community expanded his confidence and his world view. At age 12, he started a web hosting company that grew to 5 million unique visitors daily.
How Did Cammarata Build Schmidt's Naturals?
Cammarata co-founded Schmidt's Naturals in 2014 after investing in a small Oregon-based deodorant maker sold at farmers markets. He saw potential for the product beyond farmers markets and helped scale it into one of the fastest-growing startup wellness brands in the country.
By 2017, Schmidt's Naturals operated a 30,000-square-foot facility in Portland, Oregon, and a sales office in Florida, with a team of 120 employees. Cammarata also widened the product range to include plant- and mineral-based body washes, soaps, mouthwash, and toothpaste, reaching more than 14,000 American retail outlets by the second half of 2017. Industry sources told WWD that Schmidt's had roughly $45 million in sales at the time of the sale and was on track to double that figure.
Why Did Unilever Acquire Schmidt's Naturals?
Unilever acquired Schmidt's Naturals in December 2017 and named Michael Cammarata CEO of the brand. Kees Kruythoff, then president of Unilever North America, said Schmidt's was "a strong, innovative brand in the fast-growing natural category" that complemented Unilever's existing deodorant portfolio, which includes Degree, Axe, and Dove.
Alessandro Di Bella, who worked at Unilever during the acquisition, credited Cammarata's direct communication style and willingness to act fast as central to the deal's success. "Michael is proof that you have to embrace what you really are to be the best you can be, rather than conforming or imitating others," Di Bella said. "He has a crisp and direct communication style, as well as an attitude and readiness to take on risk and act fast."
What Did Cammarata Do After Leaving Schmidt's Naturals?
Cammarata left Schmidt's Naturals in July 2019 and was named president and CEO of Neptune Wellness Solutions, a publicly traded wellness company (NASDAQ: NEPT) based in Laval, Quebec, with a portfolio spanning organic food and beverage brands, nutraceuticals, and cannabis-adjacent products distributed through more than 29,000 retail locations.
Cammarata led Neptune through its pandemic-era pivot into hand sanitizers, non-contact thermometers, and vitamins, telling Authority Magazine in 2020 that the company was ramping up production capacity across those categories while treating the shift as essential business. He resigned as Neptune's CEO effective February 23, 2024, at the same time the company placed several executives on mandatory unpaid leave as part of a cost-cutting restructuring tied to its financial position, according to the company's own announcement.
What Does Cammarata's Career Say About Founder-to-Public-Company CEO Transitions?
Cammarata's path from a founder-led acquisition target to the CEO seat of a publicly traded company is a common arc in consumer wellness, and a difficult one to execute cleanly. A founder who built one brand from a farmers-market product to a Unilever acquisition operates under a different set of pressures once running a public company with quarterly disclosure obligations, activist scrutiny, and a board rather than a single strategic acquirer to answer to. Neptune's 2024 restructuring, and Cammarata's departure alongside it, illustrates a pattern communications and reputation strategists watch closely: the skills that build a category-defining private brand are not always the same skills a public-market CEO needs when a balance sheet comes under pressure. How a departing executive's exit gets framed, whether as resignation, leave, or restructuring casualty, shapes the record that follows that executive into their next role.
Frequently Asked Questions
What company did Michael Cammarata co-found?
Michael Cammarata co-founded Schmidt's Naturals, an all-natural personal care brand, in 2014.
When did Unilever acquire Schmidt's Naturals?
Unilever acquired Schmidt's Naturals in December 2017.
What did Michael Cammarata do after Schmidt's Naturals?
Cammarata became president and CEO of Neptune Wellness Solutions in 2019, a role he held until his resignation in February 2024.
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