Brian grew up on a dairy farm in Manitowoc County (Wisconsin) and worked in a cheese factory in high school. Since then, Brian has had a long career in the dairy industry. His work experience includes cheesemaker at Emmi Roth, buttermaker at Pine River Dairy, a member of the cheese ingredient division at Sargento and manager of dairy innovation at First Choice Ingredients. Brian was also one of the early CDR employees. He worked at CDR from 1985-90 and ran industry trials and assisted the researchers and graduate students. As a CDR mentor, Brian works closely with dairy processing plants and employees and provides support and guidance on a variety of issues.