JOHN KEPPLINGER
Board Member
President of Blue Sky Open Innovation, LLC
John Kepplinger is a results oriented, product development executive with proven expertise in management of global R&D programs and leadership of high performance technical teams. During his career, he has demonstrated a consistent track record of delivering growth and profitability in the food industry, primarily across ready to eat cereal and snack products. His extensive experience in leveraging Open Innovation principles has led to commercialization of competitively advantaged food products aligned to consumer needs and insights. He has been able to effectively leverage strong Strategic Thinking skills to develop and implement multi-phase plans to guide commercialization of new business opportunities and revenue streams.
John most recently served as Kellogg Company’s Vice President, Global Snacks R&D. In that role, he was responsible for building the innovation pipeline for brands such as Cheez-Its, Pringles, Special K and Nutri-Grain, significantly growing the business to comprise 50% of Kellogg revenue. Prior to his latest role, John held a similar position as Vice President, Global Breakfast R&D where he delivered strong growth across the portfolio. In addition to building iconic brands globally such as: Frosted Flakes, Special K, Raisin Bran and All Bran, he led his team to introduce Crunchy Nut, Krave and Special K hot cereal. Beyond innovation, new technologies were developed and commercialized to significantly reduce sugar while maintaining consumer delight across a variety of global pre-sweetened cereals including: Frosted Flakes, Froot Loops and Apple Jacks.
One of John’s unique skills is an ability to understand ingredient functionality and how to leverage formulation and processing to maximize the distinctive attributes it brings to food. His passion for this area is built on the satisfaction of developing win-win partnerships that ultimately improve consumer enjoyment and nutritional health. Throughout his career, John has built confidence with his stakeholders to reliably deliver high quality products that exceed consumer expectations.
Currently, John is President of Blue Sky Open Innovation, LLC, a consulting practice dedicated to facilitating the commercialization of new technologies for the Food Industry.
While at Kellogg, John served on various Global Innovation leadership teams and was the Technology Lead for the Eighteen 94 Venture Capital initiative. In addition, he served on the Board of Directors for the Kellogg/Fugeia Joint Venture. He serves on the Advisory Board of the KVCC Food Innovation Center and is a member of S.C.O.R.E. professional mentoring society. Previously he served on the Board of the Food/Bev Forum, Advisory Board of Food Health Ireland and past president of the Food Update Foundation.
Mr. Kepplinger received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and a Master of Science degree in Food Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.