Who We Are > Our Team

Jeff Wuagneux, president and CEO: RFI's president and CEO Jeff Wuagneux is the founder of the company, which was established in 1989. He is responsible for building RFI into a global source of specialty ingredients for the food, functional food and dietary supplement industries. He continues to oversee the corporate management team, as well as sales and marketing and technical/product development functions.

Drew Luce, chief operating officer: Drew Luce has more than 20 years experience in the food industry, including 13 years with Conagra Refrigerated Foods in various sales-related positions and marketing branded strategy. As chief operating officer, he has responsibility for managing sales and marketing resources and day to day business transactions throughout the RFI portfolio.

Ginny Bank, vice president-research and development: Ginny Bank is RFI's resident antioxidant expert. She worked at Hauser, Inc. for over five years as a natural products chemist focusing on the development and commercialization of a line of natural antioxidants from rosemary. She has authored four patents and has been very involved in the development of botanical extracts for the food and supplement industries. At RFI, her work focuses on unique antioxidant and functional ingredients from fruits, vegetables and botanicals including product development and custom formulations.

Rich Huntsinger, logistics and operations manager: Rich Huntsinger has more than 15 years experience in the food and flavor industry, with particular expertise in QA/QC, operations, purchasing and IT. At RFI, he is responsible for purchasing, production planning, inventory control, shipping and receiving. In addition, he handles all IT-related functions and is responsible for product management with our global partner network.

Trisha Devine, customer service manager/sales coordinator: Trisha Devine coordinates the customer service function at RFI as well as coordinating sales efforts of our global portfolio. She also serves as liaison between the RFI sales and technical teams and our network of partner companies.

Pi-Yu Hsu, QC/applications manager, MS: Pi-Yu Hsu has a background in food science and R&D, working with companies in Taiwan and the U.S. in a variety of different technical roles. She has experience with new product development, having developed three currently commercial products, and also has strong chemical analysis skills including HPLC, GC and AA.

Pearl Lin, managing director, RFI China: With roots in the dietary supplement industry, Pearl Lin is responsible for the Chinese portion of RFI's business. She handles all materials sourcing for RFI China in the food, dietary supplement and functional food industries. In addition, she is managing director for Atlantic Coast Functional Foods (www.acffchina.com), based in Beijing, China. ACFF handles manufacturing and distribution of natural food ingredients, including food preservatives, natural colors, functional food ingredients and blends for Asian markets.

Paul Altaffer, managing director, RFI South America: Paul Altaffer has over 15 years experience developing, sourcing and marketing natural ingredients from South America. He is the founder of Nat-Trop - which was merged with RFI Ingredients in 2002 - a pioneer in the development of natural and nutritional ingredients from South America. Raised in Brazil, he has a multi-cultural background and brings with him many important relationships in sourcing and product development. His primary concentrations are product development, strategic sourcing and business development.