ATCHISON, KAN.  — MGP Ingredients, Inc. has hired Viswas Ghorpade, PhD, as its vice president of R&D. Ghorpade will oversee MGP’s R&D efforts for its ingredient solutions unit, according to the company.

Prior to MGPI, Ghorpade most recently was vice president of commercialization at Black Sheep Foods. Earlier, he was senior director at Beyond Meat. Ghorpade also has held senior leadership positions at the Kellogg Co., Corn Chem International and Hill’s Pet Nutrition.

“His experience in plant-based proteins and extrusion are a great fit,” said Mike Buttshaw, vice president of Ingredient Solutions Sales and R&D at MGPI. “We look forward to his leadership of our team of food scientists, as well as using his deep understanding of extrusion processing to optimize our new manufacturing capabilities.”