The reorganization includes the appointment of Don Coffey, Ph.D., to the newly created position of vice president of the company’s ingredient solutions business segment. He had served as vice president of innovation since joining MGPI in July 2007. Randy Schrick, vice president of manufacturing and engineering since May 2002, has transitioned to the new role of corporate director of manufacturing for the distillery products business segment, while also continuing to serve as vice president of engineering. Scott Phillips, general manager of extrusion technology for the past year, has moved to the position of corporate director of manufacturing for the ingredient solutions business segment. Asif Malik, who had been general manager of the company’s Pekin, Ill., plant since April 2006, now serves as manager of MGPI’s distillery co-products technology platform, which principally consists of distillers feed.
“MGP Ingredients is a leading provider of ingredient solutions derived principally from wheat and alcohol products made principally from corn,” Newkirk said. “This fundamentally is what our business is about. However, with this in mind, we also recognize the need to continue our journey of transforming the company from a plant- or functionally driven enterprise to a customer-focused business driven by product technology platforms. These most recent changes in our management personnel structure support this concept and represent a big step forward in our transformation process.”