Idaho Milk Products congratulates Dr. Venkateswarlu (Venkat) Sunkesula on his recent promotion within the company along with receiving his Doctor of Philosophy degree from South Dakota State University.

Dr. Sunkesula was recently promoted to the position of Associate Director of Research and Technical Services. In this position, he will be responsible for the upkeep of the new Milk Innovation Center (MIC) as well as the evaluation of new technologies based on market trends and customer requirements and offer technical services to our operations department to help bring improvements to plant processes.

Before joining Idaho Milk Products, he attended South Dakota State University pursuing his Ph.D. in dairy manufacturing under the supervision of Dr. Lloyd Metzger, a member of our Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Sunkesula did his thesis on the Development of Methods to Improve Lactose Recovery from Permeate and Drying Characteristics of Greek Acid Whey. Venkat has about 20 years of professional experience in various managerial roles in the dairy, candy and brewing industries.

“I am confident that Venkat’s technical expertise and commitment will help us continue to retain the leadership role in providing healthy and highly functional milk ingredients,” said Dr. Chenchaiah Marella, VP of Research & Product Development. “The recent opening of our brand-new, state-of-the-art Milk Innovation Center plays a key role in new product development and offers value-added technical support to our customers.”

“I am very thankful to Idaho Milk Products for this promotion,” commented Venkat Sunkesula. “I am thrilled to experiment with all the new equipment in our MIC. With these new tools and new responsibilities, I am committed to exploring the endless potential of milk. I am excited and look forward to adding more value to the team in my new position.”

Idaho Milk Products proudly supports personal, professional, educational, technical and above all, leadership development to help employees realize their potential and be part of a world-class team.

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