Managing a team of four highly skilled product and packaging designers on the RXBAR and Pure Organic brands at the Kellogg's office in downtown Chicago. Actively guiding the team through an integration into Kellogg's, a company spinoff (Cereal and Snacks), a brand refresh, and a business turnaround through breakthrough innovation.

•Managed and mentored the R&D team intern, by supporting the design of a project to assess the use of Natural Flavors across all Kellogg’s health brands, and propose great tasting alternatives where possible. •Developed and filed a patent on a gluten free no sugar added starch granola binder system.•Formulated innovations across multiple brands and helped the company enter new platforms including brands entering crackers, and pancakes.•Led strategic sourcing for ingredients on innovation projects and developed partnerships with new suppliers and farmers.•Generated ideas for and implemented over $1M in annual COGS savings (~0.5M/year).•Led the Young Professionals team for two years. Led an innovative series of founders collaborations to inspire the team to think with an entrepreneurial mindset.•Created and wrote a legal framework for a co-development agreements with manufacturing partners and nurtured one co-man relationship to support development on two successful Bear Naked Granola launches. •Rated as a top performer in all annual reviews.

•Developed and scaled up a new Gluten Free Cracker platform branded Kashi Teff Thins.•Led the supply chain transition of the Pure Organic Bar line from one production location to another due to a plant closure. Managed all inventory transition, testing, and qualification at the new location.•Coached new developers through the innovation process, relying on cross functional experiential learning across several food platforms.•Worked side by side with Supply Chain, Procurement and Quality in a learning role to develop and improve ingredient supply chains for the relatively small Kashi business. This required an owner’s mindset and a small business approach within a company that mostly has experience with significant scale.•Launched key product innovations at existing as well as new to network production facilities. These projects include the two newest GoLean SKU’s, Kashi’s highest performing platform and brand. •Collaborated with the supply chain and the R&D teams to develop and optimize the ~$2M plant test budget. Continue to track and realign spend with business priorities monthly.•Proposed, organized and lead the Kashi Certified Transitional Promotional Bike Tour down the West Coast. Organized promotional events daily and met with both ends of the supply chain, from store buyers, to farmers of Certified Transitional ingredients.

•Launched new products under the Kashi, Stretch Island, and Pure brand over 3 years. Demonstrated process expertise across multiple food platforms including crackers, cold-form bars, cereal, frozen entrees, and fruit snacks.•Helped to build relationships with three new Co-mans during innovation (Batista’s, SunOpta Omak and SunOpta Carson City). Worked across all plant levels to help build understanding and trust in the Kellogg system.•Complete non-GMO conversion on all Kashi products over a 2 year period, several requiring ingredient substitution and plant capital modifications.

•Lead global sourcing project for Special K Cracker Chips in Europe, implamented $15M in new capital equipment, trained 5 shifts of new employees, and qualified 4 new products in multiple packaging formats. Involved integrating and leading a cross functional team of newly acquired Pringles employees, on the first ever non-Pringles line in the Mechelen, Belgium facility. This project required living in Belgium for 4 months and managing all travel and living expenses.•Managed $3M annual plant test budget; required managing and tracking projects led by five peers; managed to within <$100K underspent.•Lead the crackers group in the transition for Microsoft SharePoint, a new social network format to track product information.

•Managed $900K in plant tests for Kashi, Sunshine, and Special K food innovation projects in the first year and a half•Improved nutrition credentials for 16 graham products sold in elementary schools, by supporting testing in the pilot plant and leading testing and production startup in the Charlotte, Columbus and Grand Rapids plants•Lead plant trials and production startup to renovate 4 Kashi TLC cracker products with stagnant sales•Supported testing of Special K Cracker Crisps at the Idea Snacks co-manufacturer in Liberty, New York; worked with developer to prepare the third flavor line extension•Lead data collection and assisted in analysis for project Kevlar 2; reduction of sodium in 3 brands and 6 products in the Cincinnati and Seelyville plants•Supported production of 3 new Cheez-it flavors for the "Choose your Cheese" promotional vote on Facebook•Led sales sample production and inventory build of Club Mini Multigrain in the Grand Rapids Bakery

The objective of this project was to design, build, and validate a pilot-scale aseptic beverage filling system.Aseptic filling involves the process of packaging a sterile product in a pre-sterilized container. Our process was designed to occur in a chamber that was pre-sterilized using hydrogen peroxide vapor.

•Created and led a project to improve production speed of all meat lasagna products by 45% while improving yields by 1%, to create a cost savings of over $25,000 per year•Developed a product handling program for frozen chicken and implemented a new conveyor design to reduce waste by 80% and save $48,000 per year on one production line•Developed an oven grease recovery system for increased grease sales, improved worker safety, and increased wastewater treatment efficiency; a total cost benefit of $50,000 per year

•Located underground sewer and storm leads using pipe inspection cameras and dye testing•Assisted first K-9 detection unit to locate illicit discharge pipes•Employed GPS and PDA phones to export pipe data into a remote database while in the field•Used GIS software to evaluate the adequacy of vegetation buffer zones at road-stream crossings•Developed MDOT highway drainage reports for an I-94 construction project

•Oversaw projects for implementing new cereal in 1 Canadian and 3 U.S. production plants•Managed night shifts at Omaha and Battle Creek plants•Organized data and prepared reports for the largest sugar reduction project in Kellogg’s history•Wrote 7 new production formulas and 6 test plans for sugar reduced kid’s cereals •Programmed new sugar monitoring system for 12 current products using PI Processbook software •Completed a moisture and thermodynamic balance on a malfunctioning Smacks® cooler; reported conclusions to the engineering design group; and helped develop a new cooler design

•Performed safety inspections following the Chemical & Biological Safety and the NRC guidelines•Monitored and recorded building radiation levels, and maintained safety policies and equipment