First food-related job?I started milking cows when I was 8 years old.

Where did you learn to make cheese? At the UW Center for Dairy Research and from my lead cheesemaker and plant manager Kurt Premo.

Favorite way to eat cheese? I love my Les Frères French-style cheese with wine and kettle chips. I also love it with a good dry sausage.

What should the public know about cheese? The public should know that there are so many wonderful American original cheeses that they don’t have to look to Europe for expensive imports. We make great cheese in Wisconsin and the United States, and it’s fresher and just as good, if not better than the European counterparts.

Who is your cheese idol? My cheese mentor is Felix Roth from Roth Kase USA.

First memory of cheese?My mom’s cheese sandwiches with mustard.

What would you be doing if you weren’t a cheesemaker?I’d be happily milking cows at our dairy farm in Waterloo, Wis., and probably driving my brothers nuts.

Best book about cheese you’ve read? I like books that show all the interesting mountain cheeses of France. Every mountain and valley has a different variety of cattle and a different unique cheese. “French Cheeses” by DK Publishing.