Keurig Dr Pepper Names New R&D Chief

Dec. 7, 2022

Lifelong product development specialist spent 18 years at PepsiCo.

Keurig Dr Pepper is bringing in a veteran of food and beverage product development to head its research and development.

Karin Rotem-Wildeman will become KDP’s chief research and development officer effective Jan. 9. She will replace David Thomas, who is retiring from KDP after 16 years.

Rotem-Wildeman started her career as a research engineer with Nestlé. She worked 18 years at PepsiCo, finishing as senior vice president for beverage regional R&D. Her most recent job was as chief scientific officer at Livekindly Collective, a startup for plant-based foods.

Rotem-Wildeman will report directly to KDP CEO Bob Gamgort, who said in a statement, “Karin is an accomplished R&D leader and CPG executive with a proven track record in concept-to-shelf innovation across multiple product categories. I look forward to working with her as we continue to deliver against our vision to meet every beverage need."

About the Author

Pan Demetrakakes | Senior Editor

Pan has written about the food and beverage industry for more than 25 years. His areas of coverage have included formulations, processing, packaging, marketing and retailing. Pan worked for Food Processing Magazine for six years in the 1990s, where he was operations editor (his current role), touring dozens of food plants of every description. He has also worked for Packaging and Food & Beverage Packaging magazines, the latter as chief editor, during which he won three ASBPE awards. He is a graduate of Stanford University with a BA in communications.