Mozzarella Fella: A rare photo of the late James Leprino (seated), taken in 1978. His daughters, Terry and Gina now control the 75-year-old dairy empire and became billionaires upon the death of their father this summer.
Denver Post via Getty Images
A major transition has taken place at the world’s largest mozzarella maker, Denver-based Leprino, following the recent death of reclusive billionaire James Leprino at 87. Leprino’s daughters and longtime board directors Terry Leprino, 65, and Gina Vecchiarelli, 62, are now the main owners of the $3.6 billion (estimated annual revenue) cheese business, which manufactures and sells more than 1 billion pounds of cheese annually and supplies cheese to Domino’s, Pizza Hut, Papa John’s and other pizza brands. Their families’ inheritance includes a combined 90% stake in the company, which was founded in 1950 by their grandfather, Mike Leprino, and that equity has minted them as individual billionaires, worth an estimated $1 billion each.
The late Leprino told Forbes in 2016 that he didn’t want his daughters to feel forced into the business that pioneered the technology for manufacturing pizza cheese at scale: “I don’t want them to be living a corporate life resentfully. Corporate life is tough,” he said during his only interview. “I don’t want to interfere with their love for life and their happiness.”
He added that he never intended for them to take on day-to-day leadership roles. “I will never manage this business from my grave. My two daughters will have the say-so over it,” Leprino said at the time. “They’re both doing their own thing. They know what’s going on. I feel strongly that my family will be able to succeed in running the business as directors. I want them to live normal lives. I pushed for that.”
Terry spent a decade as marketing director at Leprino. According to a biography published for Colorado Christian University, where Terry has served as a trustee for over a decade, she is currently the president of the Leprino Foods Foundation. She supports many Christian organizations—having served for 13 years, as the Regional Director for the Front Range Region of Young Life. For two years between 1993 and 1995, she was also a state-registered psychologist. She holds a master’s degree in biblical counseling from Colorado Christian University and a bachelor’s degree from Arizona State.
Like their secretive father, their sisters rarely make headlines, save for when Terry’s $7.5 million home purchase in August 2022 became the most expensive sale in the Denver area that month, according to the Denver Post.
At the time of his interview in 2016, Jim Leprino said that Gina was “running a program for Make-A-Wish” and that she was focused on mothering her two daughters, who were about to graduate from college. Her husband of at least 35 years, Dan Vecchiarelli, 60, was named CEO and chairman of Leprino Foods around 2023.
He is now at the helm as Leprino celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. In January, Vecchiarelli led the opening of Leprino’s newest plant in Lubbock, Texas, in which the company has pledged to invest $1 billion over the next few years. The 850-000 square foot mozzarella plant is currently staffed with 300 full-time workers, with total employment expected to double next year. At the ribbon cutting ceremony, Vecchiarelli highlighted the impact the plant will have on the region’s dairies, estimating that some 200 milk trucks from around Texas will supply the plant daily. The investment is projected to create $10.6 billion in economic impact for Texas, he added.
“This year marks a milestone for us—our 75th anniversary. It’s not just a celebration of maturity but it’s a moment for us to envision our future—a future that includes Lubbock,” Vecchiarelli said at the event. “So today as we cut this ribbon, we are starting a brand-new chapter. This factory is more than bricks and mortar and stainless steel. It’s the symbol of the next 75 years of growth for us.”
Leprino’s main owners, Vecchiarelli’s wife, Gina, and her sister, Terry, did not attend the ribbon cutting.
“That billion-dollar investment is a generational-type investment. That kind of commitment really requires legacy-level leadership focused on a long game. And that’s Dan,” says John Osborne, CEO of the Lubbock Economic Development Alliance, who’s known Veccharielli since 2019.
A Leprino cheese plant in Colorado.
Cody Pickens for Forbes
Former Leprino employees describe Vecchiarelli as “open to new ideas,” “welcoming,” and “humble.” One employee of 12 years, who left in 2018, recalls Vecchiarelli as being more polished than his late father-in-law, who went to work in the family business instead of attending college: “Dan talks more like how business people talk. His style was different than Mr. Leprino, but you could talk with both of them.”
“I did not even know he was the son-in-law,” he adds.
In some companies, transitioning to the next generation often leads to more openness around getting acquired. And especially after the stress of the family feud lawsuit from cousins who own the remaining 25% of Leprino that erupted in 2022—in which the late Leprino had to testify from a wheelchair and the jury sided with him and against the claims from his nieces which included breaching their fiduciary duties—there might have been some pressure to move on. But it looks like the Leprino daughters want the business to stay in the family and remain private. The entire global dairy industry would see Leprino as a once-in-a-generation kind of acquisition.
Or perhaps Leprino will move beyond mozzarella with a new generation at the helm. When the business unveiled a new logo in 2023 and announced it would no longer be known as Leprino Foods, the company described the move in a release as honoring “the company’s heritage while signaling a vision that could extend beyond food, opening doors to future possibilities.” In the release, Vecchiarelli added: “We believe this refresh is more than a visual update—it’s a symbol of where we’ve been, where we are and where we’re going.”
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Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloesorvino/2025/08/30/meet-the-new-big-cheese-at-the-worlds-largest-mozzarella-maker/