John Ghingo has been named chief executive officer at Whisps, a maker of cheese crisps and other cheese products.

He brings more than two decades of experience working for food, beverage and consumer packaged good companies. He most recently was president of meat company Applegate Farms, LLC, a stand-alone subsidiary of Hormel Foods Corp. Before that he led the Silk and So Delicious Dairy Free brands for WhiteWave Foods as president of plant-based food and beverage. He also spent 17 years at Mondelez International, Inc., holding general management and marketing leadership positions across several categories, both in North America and globally. He managed the businesses for multiple snacking and confectionery brands at Mondelez, including Oreo, belVita, Chips Ahoy!, Cadbury, Swedish Fish, SourPatch Kids, Trident and more.

Mr. Ghingo holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Notre Dame and a master’s degree in marketing and management from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

In his new role, he will oversee efforts to expand Whisps into new categories while boosting production and opening new distribution channels for the brand’s existing products. He succeeds Ilana Fischer, who took Whisps independent three years ago after launching the brand at Schuman Cheese. Ms. Fischer will continue on with the brand through a new role as an adviser for the board and executive leadership team.

Whisps launched in 2015 with a line of high protein cheese crisps and recently expanded into new categories with the introduction of an alternative to breadcrumbs and a keto-friendly cheese crisps and nuts mix.

“The average American consumes approximately 40 lbs of cheese per year, creating an immense opportunity for Whisps to grow,” said Iris Snyder, chief financial officer of Whisps. “Looking at what John has accomplished at other brands, we’re confident that he’ll provide the vision we need to go from one aisle to many.”