Experience

• 

  Bragg Live Food Products, LLC

  • California

  • Director Of Technical Services

    • Oct 2019 - Present
    • California

    Responsible for R&D, QA and Food Safety at Bragg Live Food Products.- Develop a team to comply with all QA, Product Development and Laboratory needs for Bragg LFP. - Assist with all Market research new formulas and products for IHUT's, CLT's, etc. as needed.- Develop new products with manufacturing partners, establish quality specifications and product parameters. - Develop QA programs to verify product and packaging quality from all our vendors. - Assess human resources needs and manage 5+ direct and indirect reports.- Implement tools and develop organizational processes to bring new products to market. - Identify human resource needed for the technical services areas of responsibility.

• 

  organicgirl

  • Salinas, California

  • Research and Development Director

    • Nov 2015 - Oct 2019
    • Salinas, California

    • Manage and perform all technical activities of product development efforts for salad projects.• Developed #1 Butter Lettuce product in the category.• Developed commercial process to scale of 4 juices and 4 teas from prototype to commercial scale production (won best organic beverages NEXTY in the last Expo West 2018).• Defined project tasks and resource requirements to launch 4 new line extension items. • Ran all packaging material trials to save $500k+/yr on supplier costs. • Review, test and validate new organic raw materials, greens (lettuces, baby greens, sprouts, etc.) and vegetables to develop new products or revitalize others.• Supply feedback to Engineering team on 3 new production line designs for launch of 3 new products (unit operations: prep, wash, dry, packaging).• Coordinate with Ag Ops tests of new raw materials from seed selection to greenhouse and transplant. Develop processes to move new varieties into production scale.

• 

  DOLE Fresh Vegetables

  • United States
  • Food and Beverage Manufacturing
  • 700 & Above Employee

  • Senior Product Development Manager

    • Jun 2013 - Oct 2015

  • Product Development Manager

    • May 2012 - Jun 2013

    -Perform all development activities (formulations, scale-ups, pilot and full production run trials, raw materials and finished product specifications, etc.) related to launch 200+ fresh-cut salad products (new, line extension, private label).-Develop and assess technological feasibility of new products involving new packaging, raw materials, processing equipment.-Organize, execute and develop plant trials at co-packer facilities to test production of fresh-cut salads, ready-to-eat products, raw materials evaluation, formula evaluations, technological feasibility, etc.-Generate all relevant documentation to launch new product: raw material specifications, formulas, packaging, nutrition information (Genesis software), finished product specifications, process specifications.-Perform plant scale testing of packaging equipment, product formulations, processing SOP’s, etc.- Manage team of professionals on a multiple project environment to attend all business units requests (Sales sample production, product development activities, assessment of new technologies, vendor material evaluations, etc.)- Promoted three times in 8 years (Senior Product Development Scientist 2009 and Research and Product Development Manager 2011 and Senior Product Development Manager 2014).

  • Product Development Manager

    • May 2010 - May 2012

  • Product Development Scientist

    • Jul 2007 - May 2010

• 

  Kellogg Company

  • Product Development Intern

    • May 2006 - May 2007

    -Design and modify formulations for current and new products to meet cost, functional and nutritional parameters-Work jointly with ingredient vendors, suppliers and brokers to obtain desirable and cost efficient ingredients for new products (cookies, breakfast cereals, bars)-Elaborate test plans (objective, resources, locations, etc.) for plant trials

• 

  Texas A&M University

  • College Station, TX

  • Research Assistant

    • Jan 2003 - May 2006
    • College Station, TX

    - Irradiate nuts using E-Beam irradiation facility (dosimetry, production rates, etc) to analyze its effects on pecans- Develop analytical procedures to evaluate phytochemicals, bromatological analyses, etc. using HPLC, gas chromatographs, spectrophotometers, others.- Analyze pecan nuts for their nutraceutical and antioxidant potential- Analysis of fruit and vegetables for antioxidant and phytochemical content using analytical methods mentioned above.- Evaluation of postharvest technologies (1-MCP, CA) to increase shelf life of melon, avocado and watermelon using texture analyzers, soluble solid concentrations, Minolta colorimeters, etc.- Method development for HPLC analyses of extracted compounds (carotenoids, lycopene)

• 

  Mars

  • Santa Catarina, Mexico

  • Production Manager, Hard Candy Division

    • Jan 2002 - Dec 2002
    • Santa Catarina, Mexico

    - Lead production team of 250+ employees - Involved in all aspects of in line production of hard candy sku's, from master scheduling, raw material and packaging material logistics, production sequences, etc.- Review new ingredients proposed by R&D and third party vendors to improve production and functionality at each processing step.- Work closely with Engineering, Sales, Marketing and R&D teams to reach new product launches timelines.