Harvest Innovations Research and Development Team is an Industry Leader.
Harvest Innovations has one of the leading research teams in the United States in the
development of food products from grains, legumes and oilseeds. No chemicals or artificial ingredients are used in the development of the Harvest Innovations food ingredients. The Harvest Innovations Research and Development team have over 100 combined years of scientific development experience in creating food products.
The members of our team are as follows:
Dr. Wilmot B. Wijeratne
Director of Food Technology
Dr. Wilmot Wijeratne has devoted over three decades of his professional career to
research, development and technology transfer in the area of grain processing and
utilization in food systems. Dr. Wijeratne’s development work includes functional
ingredients based on combinations of cereal grains, legumes and oil seeds.
“Dr. Wilmot”, as he is sometimes referred to, served fifteen years at the University of
Illinois, Urbana, Champaign, in various capacities involving research, instruction and
technology transfer. As a result of this experience, Dr. Wilmot is known nationally
as a leading expert in the field of natural grain processing.
Dr. Noel G. Rudie
Director of Research
Dr. Rudie has developed numerous products for the pasta, dairy, baking and beverage
industries over the past twenty years. After receiving his Ph.D. from the
University of Georgia in Biochemistry, Dr. Rudie went on to development work at
Hershey Foods Corporation, Kraft Foods, Inc. and Opta Food Ingredient, Inc. (Now
known as “SunOpta”). Most recently, Dr. Rudie led the research and development group, as well as the operations group, at Soy Link, LLC. In his seven years at Soy Link, he
developed products for the dessert, pasta, beverage, nutritional bar, and gluten-free industries.
Giovanni Santi
Technical Sales Manager
Giovanni (“Gio”) is an expert in legumes and grains that can be used to make pasta. Along with Dr. Noel Rudie, Gio has invented for Harvest Innovations a unique pasta fortifier that can be used in all forms of pasta including dry, fresh, frozen, food service and gluten free to improve bite, create elasticity and prevent dissolution of the pasta from water over time. A 1986 graduate of I.T.I.S. in Trevisio, Italy in mechanical engineering, Gio has spent over 25 years becoming one of the foremost experts in technical formulations of pasta including ingredients, their use in formulations and the equipment needed to make all types of pasta. Gio is the technical leader for Harvest Innovations in revolutionizing the making of gluten free pasta.
Regena Butler
Product Development Specialist, Quality Assurance Manager
Regena graduated from Iowa State University earning a Bachelor of Science in Animal
Science. She has devoted the past nineteen years working as a technical professional in the food ingredients manufacturing industry. While employed with Proliant, Inc., Regena
performed product development and application research of protein ingredients for value
added functional, nutritional and flavor applications for the food industry. For the last five years, Regena has assisted in the utilization of soy proteins and other oil seeds in the
food industry.
