Raymond A. Bourque is director of packaging and processing technology at Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., in Lakeville/Middleboro, Mass. He has been with the company since 1972.

Bourque has been involved with package development for more than 30 years. He has directed the development and commercialization of a variety of new packaging technologies, including aseptic paperboard; aseptic plastic form fill seal; hot-fill PET juice packaging; and hot-fill barrier plastics as well as traditional glass, metal, and paperboard packaging.

He received a B.S. degree in packaging from Michigan State University, a B.A. degree in biology from Western Michigan University, an M.B.A. degree from Northeastern University, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in nutrition and food policy from Tufts University.

He is a member of the IFT, IOPP, and the PMMI Packaging Manager's Council. Bourque has served on a number of National Food Processing Association committees over the years and is a past chairman of both the New Technologies Subcommittee and the Packaging Technical Committee. He is a past chairman and one of the founders of the IFT Food Packaging Division.

In 1997, Bourque was the recipient of the IFT Riester-Davis Award for outstanding achievement in food packaging. He holds a number of new package patents. He has chaired many symposiums on packaging sponsored by IFT, IOPP, and NFPA and has presented and published papers on aseptic packaging, hot-fill packaging, packaging integrity, environmental issues, barrier plastics, and new package and processing technologies.