Stephanie Ropiak

As Director of Product Research at Dairy Management Inc. (DMI), Stephanie supports dairy innovation research across focus areas.  She supports strategic initiatives to provide technical unlocks to dairy-derived health and wellness ingredients.  Stephanie works in collaboration with universities to progress dairy research from concept to commercialization on behalf of U.S. dairy farmers.

Stephanie brings experience in innovation roles at PepsiCo and Kraft Heinz, leading discovery research in new processes and ingredients for both foods and beverages.  Stephanie is passionate about sugar reduction, ingredient functionality, and enzymes.

Stephanie received her B.S. in Food Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, her M.S. in Food Science from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst, and her Ph.D. in food science from Cornell University, with concentrations in food chemistry and bioprocess engineering.  Her graduate research focused on enzyme immobilization for upcycling food processing waste streams.