WESTCHESTER, ILLINOIS, U.S. — Ingredion Inc. announced on Oct. 5 that current Executive Vice-President, Global Specialties and President, North America and EMEA James P. Zallie will be appointed executive vice-president, Global Specialties and president, Americas.

Zallie will lead both the North America and South America regional businesses, aligning operations to capitalize on emerging growth opportunities. He will also continue leading the growth of the company's global specialties portfolio.

Jorgen Kokke, currently senior vice-president and president, Asia Pacific, will be appointed senior vice-president and president, Asia Pacific and EMEA. Kokke will lead both the Asia Pacific and EMEA regional businesses, Ingredion's growth engines with similar challenges and opportunities.

The leadership restructuring will be effective Jan. 1, 2016. "These changes to our executive team structure will further improve alignment, leverage opportunities across similar businesses and geographies and streamline organizational reporting," said Ingredion Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ilene Gordon. "I have great confidence in the strategic leadership capabilities of both Jim and Jorgen.”

Prior to Zallie's current role, he served as executive vice-president, Global Specialties and president, EMEA and Asia-Pacific. Previously, he was president and CEO of National Starch, where he worked for more than 27 years in various positions of increasing responsibility. Zallie has master's degrees in food science and business administration from Rutgers University and a bachelor's degree in food science from Pennsylvania State University.

Before assuming his current role in January 2014, Kokke served as vice-president and general manager, EMEA, based in Hamburg, Germany. Prior to joining Ingredion in 2009, he was vice-president at CSM NV, a global food ingredients supplier. He also worked at Loders Croklaan, a manufacturer of specialty oils and fats, in sales, business development, marketing and general management in Europe and the U.S. Kokke has a master's degree in economics from the University of Amsterdam.