The first class of Ingredion's Global Talent for Operations (GTO) development program has graduated! The cohort of 30 operations employees from across the Company's global locations completed a three-year program targeted toward high-potential, early-in-career engineering and supply chain talent.

Participants undergo three 12-month rotations, including at least one physical move among the Company's domestic and international locations. A hybrid curriculum was developed with the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Ingredion subject matter experts to provide additional education and skill advancement for a career in operations leadership. The program focuses on building critical behaviors, including customer focus, strategic mindset, optimization of work processes, situational adaptability, and more. On-the-job development is facilitated through mentoring, job shadowing and peer-to-peer learning. 

"This program provides you three years of immense training, development and professional growth that you can't get in most places," said Thomas Cunningham, a GTO associate and reliability engineer at Ingredion.

"I wasn't sure what the next step was," said Claire Cozzad, a GTO associate and project engineer at the Company. "I was an associate process engineer at Argo, but I didn't know what I wanted to do next if it was in engineering or operations. I saw this program as the opportunity to figure that out and maybe get to try a couple of different things."

Ingredion aims to enhance its long-term capabilities by developing a solid foundation of individuals who are both leadership-capable and ready. Julio Cesar Barrera Martinez, a GTO associate and process technician at the Company, affirmed the many benefits he gained from the program, "I learned so much from my mentor, from my classmates, from all the people I had the opportunity to know. Thank you to the global operations program."