After graduation, I was hired into Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati, in late August 1970. There, I began in my career in manufacturing at Crisco in Cincinnati, before moving to Jif, then in Portsmouth, Virginia. In 1975, I transferred internally to R&D into Shortening & Oil Tech Services, then to a startup of Pringles Rippled Style in Jackson, TN, again to Puritan Oil (Chicago), to S&O upstream PD, and eventually to Duncan Hines dual texture cookies.
In 1984, I internally transferred to International Technology Coordination-Food & Beverage in Cincinnati, where I was given overall R&D responsibilities (covering various times) for Crush-International; Star & Dari-Crème margarines (Philippines); Choco Milk (Mexico); Sunny Delight startups in the UK, France, & Germany; NutriStar (Venezuela, Mexico, Nicaragua); and Splendid Coffee (Italy). I also provided product support for our German juice brands, Punica & Valensina. I retired from P&G in June, 2004 when they sold the Food & Beverage businesses.
Before retiring from Proctor & Gamble, I served as their Corporate representative on several boards. That included the Program Against Micronutrient Malnutrition (PAMM) at Emory University. I was a founding corporate member of the Gates Foundation’s Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) in Seattle, WA. I also served on the Advisory Board to Emory University’s International School of Public Health.
In October 2006, I formed C. T. Gagel Consulting, LLC. There, I conducted several memorable projects. I worked with the Academy for Educational Development on a national nutrition product survey for project Alive & Thrive in Vietnam. Later, I worked with Coca-Cola, helping them create their “Stage Gate” project management model. I also helped them create a series of protein-based nutritional products for them. For Martek Bio-Science, I was the de-facto anti-oxidant manager for their Life’s DHA. Coupled with some process changes, that effort took them from a shelf life of a few months, frozen, to 6 months, shelf stable lifespan.
Other projects of note included my efforts with PATH-India, where I helped them get the equivalent of a GRAS affirmation for Super Rice, and with Project Headstrong in Ireland, a national mental health initiative aimed at reducing young adult self-harm.
In March of 2008, along with two other ex-P&G’ers, I formed OTC Nutrition, LLC. There we helped PATH assess a Super Rice production partner in Mathura, India, which they proceeded based on our recommendation. We created a new product, Calsura, providing clinically proven bone health and bone strength via a unique in-situ creation of soluble Calcium proven to be more bio-available than the Calcium in milk (patent pending). Most recently, I formed a wholly-owned production subsidiary, Arch Nutraceutical, LLC to manufacture Calsura, and to contract manufacture various tablets, capsules, and powders in February, 2016.
In August 1970, I married my wife Barbara Lehmenkuler (A&S; Med Tech; 1969). Together we have three children: Gina (Kurtz); Zachary; Brittany (Gofney) & 7 grand-children. Zachary was a two-time lacrosse All-American at Ohio Wesleyan University and is in their athletic hall of fame (2015 induction). He played professionally with Rochester & Chicago (MLL) & with Columbus (NLL). Brittany had the distinction of being on the very last Cincinnati Reds Dance Team, the “Reds Crew.” She is an art teacher here in Louisville at Butler High School.
In my free time, I played banjo & mandolin in a Cincinnati-area folk & bluegrass band, The Mutual Funs, from 1975-1980. I also found the time to coach women’s lacrosse, which I did from 2001-2017 at Ursuline Academy High School, again in Cincinnati.