BEVERLY, MASS. — Julia Decruz has been named director of R&D/applications at Prova Inc.

She brings more than two decades of R&D experience to her new role. She most recently was director of R&D, organic and conventional chilled products, at Bolthouse Farms, Inc. She worked on major beverage development projects at several companies before that, including Dr. Pepper Snapple Group and Starbucks Coffee Co. She also brings experience developing ice cream and other dairy products at Nestle and Darigold.

“Julia and her team members, Brian Wilson and Jacob Fay, will work on projects that showcase Prova’s flavors, extracts and technologies,” said Pam deVries, general manager at Prova. “They will encourage customers to visit our brand-new kitchen facilities and collaborate on new product development ideas.”

Ms. Decruz joins the company alongside Mario Marin, who was named inside sales manager. Mr. Marin previously was the regulatory and continuous improvement manager at Joseph’s Bakery. Before that, he was a product developer at Donsuemor and a research chef and food technologist at Albertsons.