A Trailblazer in Small Business Entrepreneurship

Professional Achievement
Madeline Haydon, ’05 MBA
Albers School of Business and Economics

Madeline Haydon, ’05 MBA, considers herself an “accidental entrepreneur.”

After earning a degree in English at the University of Washington, Haydon decided to pursue an MBA at Seattle University's Albers School of Business and Economics to increase her potential career prospects. She couldn’t have predicted how far it would take her.

“I remember being in a class on entrepreneurship, learning about reputational and financial risks and the complexities of starting a business,” Haydon recalls. “At the time, I thought I wasn’t cut out for that risk. But sometimes necessity is the mother of invention and that was the case with nutpods.”

Haydon is the founder and former CEO of nutpods, a clean-label, dairy-free creamer that achieved national recognition for sustainable business practices and rapid growth. What started as a Kickstarter campaign in 2011 became the number one dairy-free creamer on Amazon.

As the CEO of Green Grass Foods, the parent company of nutpods, Haydon led the company to rank #13 on the Inc. 5,000 list in 2019 and earned Amazon’s “Small Business of the Year” honors in 2020. Her leadership has also been recognized by Forbes (“Female Leaders in Food”), Inc. (“Female Founders 200”) and Ernst & Young (“Entrepreneur of the Year”). 

In 2021, Haydon partnered with SU to create the “Madeline Haydon Award for Entrepreneurship” as part of the Harriet Stephenson Business Plan Competition, in which she earned third place with her business plan for nutpods in 2015. Haydon credits her SU education with giving her the foundation to start a business and inspiring her company pillars: Quality, Customers, Team Members, Community and Environment.

“Those were absolutely shaped by my time at Seattle University and the Jesuit approach to community and giving back,” Haydon says.

In 2024, Haydon decided to step down as CEO of nutpods. As the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, a woman of color in business and mom of two daughters, Haydon is shifting her focus to inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurs.

“I loved my job. I loved the company, I loved the team that I built, I love our products, but someone else can take that baton and continue to grow the business. Where I wanted my impact to be is being representative,” Haydon says. “When I am a judge for Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year program, people can look on the judging panel and see someone who is female, a person of color and they might be able to identify with that. In giving up my role of CEO, now I’m able to focus on championing other minority entrepreneurs, female founders and people of color.”

Haydon has also pivoted her focus to giving back while inspiring others to do so as well. Currently, she serves on the boards of private companies and recently created the Madeline Haydon Endowed Scholarship at Seattle University to support students interested in entrepreneurship. Additionally, she regularly mentors female founders and speaks nationally on issues related to entrepreneurship.

On receiving the Professional Achievement Award, Haydon reflects on the support from SU that propelled her toward success.

“It's really humbling and it's rewarding to be able to go back to an institution that helped shape you as a student and supported you as a businessperson and be able to give back. It's very meaningful for me.”