2017 Expert Judges Darigold, Doug was a Cheese Plant Manager, Project and Cheese Technology Manager....

2017 Expert Judges MARCH 7 -9, 2017 | GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN

Jill has been evaluating dairy products for technical consisten-cy, best taste, and highest quality for contests and consumers, for more than 15 years for Tillamook County Creamery Association. She is responsible for the management of Tillamook’s Sensory Lab, and the Research and Development Quality Dairy Products Lab. Jill was a judge at the 2013 and 2015 U.S. Championship Cheese Contest and at the 2014 and 2016 World Championship Cheese Contest.

Doug has worked 34 years in many aspects of the cheese industry, including cheese production, Research and Development, and Cheese Procurement for Kraft Foods. At Darigold, Doug was a Cheese Plant Manager, Project and Cheese Technology Manager. Most recently, Doug worked for Degussa/Cargill Cultures and Enzymes. He has judged at industry contests, in-cluding the Idaho Dairy Processors Cheese Contest.

Greg is currently employed as a Source Manager for the Kroger Company. Greg has 40 years of dairy and cheese experience holding a variety of different positions. He is a Wisconsin licensed cheese maker and Wisconsin licensed cheese grader. He judged at past U.S. and World Championship Cheese Contests.

Austin works for Agropur, Inc. in Hull, Iowa. He graduated in 2013 from South Dakota State with a degree in Dairy Manufacturing from South Dakota State University. In 2013, Austin was a Student Judge in the United States Championship Cheese Contest.

JILL ALLEN | OREGON

AUSTIN ASCHE | IOWA

GREG ANDERSON | MINNESOTA

DOUG ANKER | WASHINGTON

Marc is semi-retired after a 43 year career in the cheese, dairy and food industries. He managed the Washington State University Creamery for 27 years and has offered cheesemaking short courses on the Pacific Coast in association with major universities. Marc previously served as a judge for Collegiate Dairy Products Competition, the U.S. and World Cheese Championships and other industry contests.

MARC BATES | WASHINGTON

Kirk is a Food Scientist at Valley Queen Cheese Factory, Inc. Kirk has 31 years of dairy and cheese expe-rience, including cheese research, teaching and industry production. Kirk has served as a judge for Colle-giate Dairy Product Competition, a coach for FFA dairy products teams and has been part of the B-Team for many past U.S. and World Cheese Championship Contests.

KIRK BALDWIN| SOUTH DAKOTA


Dr. Bradley is an Emeritus Professor of Food Science at the University of Wisconsin. His research is focused in the general areas of food products development, ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis, frozen dessert technology, and dairy foods technology. Dr. Bradley judged at several previous U.S. and World Championship Cheese Contests.

ROBERT BRADLEY | WISCONSIN

A graduate of SDSU in dairy science, Tori is currently a Food Scientist at Kemps LLC, developing frozen, cul-tured, and fluid products with pre-vious experience in natural cheese. Competing in the Collegiate Dairy Products Evaluation Contest began her training in dairy evaluation and she has continued judging dairy products in several other contests throughout her career.

TORI BOOMGARDEN- GROSS | SOUTH DAKOTA

Dave has worked 40 years in the cheese industry, with the last 36 years for Marathon Cheese where he is currently a Procurement Manager. Dave has been a Judge several times for the Wisconsin State Fair cheese contest, as well as multiple times for the WCMA in both United States and World Championship Cheese Contests.

DAVE BURK | WISCONSINTHEODORE BROWN VERMONTA Master Cheese Grader at Cabot Creamery for 20 years, Ted hasevaluated well over a billion pounds of Cheddar from multiple facilities. Experience grading a wide variety of numerous cheeses and dairy products.

Larry is semi-retired after 37 years in the cheese industry. His cheese experience includes research and development, quality management, and food safety management. Larry currently consults on new products, food safety audits, and product evaluations. He has judged at several past U.S. and World Champi-onship Cheese Contests.

LARRY BELL | WISCONSIN TONYA BIRKREM | WISCONSINTonya Birkrem is a graduate of UW-Madison in Food Science with over 15 years experience in the Food and Dairy Industry, currently working for Schreiber Foods. Over her career she has held various positions within food safety and quality with a passion for Grade A dairy products. Tonya is a past participant on the collegiate dairy products team and has previously judged at the World Dairy Expo contest.


Dr. Dargan has 34 years ofexperience in the cheese indus-try, including roles in Operations, Purchasing, and Quality Assurance. He is currently one of the primary technical cheese resources and train-ers for Schreiber Foods. Richard is a Wisconsin licensed cheese grader and has judged several years at the IMPA Cheese Contest, and the 2013 U.S. Championship Cheese Contest.

RICHARD DARGAN | FLORIDA

SAMANTHA ERICKSONWISCONSIN

Bénédicte Coudé attended school in France for several years, studying Agronomy and receiving a Master’s Degree in Agricultural Sciences in Montpellier before transferring to the University of Wisconsin- Madi-son where she received a Master’s in Food Science. She currently works for Schuman Cheese. Bénédicte en-joys cheese judging and has served as a technical judge in many cheese contests.

BENEDICTE COUDE | CALIFORNIA

TODD DRUHOT | GEORGIATodd is a gourmet cheese specialist and Director of the Cheese Importing Program for Atlanta Foods International. He is past Chair of the American Cheese Society’s Judging & Competition. Mr. Druhot was induct-ed into the Guilde Internationale Des Fromagers in 2010 and judged at the 2013 U.S. Championship Cheese Contest.

MICHAEL COMOTTO | MISSOURIKimberlee has a B.S. and M.S. in Food Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has been working as the Dairy Ingredient Ap-plications Program Coordinator for the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research since 1997. She has more than 25 years of experience in product development and nowspecializes in the development of yogurt and dairy-based beverages.

KJ BURRINGTON | WISCONSINMichael Comotto hold a B.S. from University of Missouri in Agriculture- Food Science and Nutrition. He has had his Wisconsin cheesemaker and grading licenses since 1979. He has served as an official judge in many contests since the 1980s. He is currently employed at DairiConcepts.

Samantha Erickson is an Iowa farm girl turned cheesemaker. While attending SDSU’s Dairy Science program she won the Collegiate Dairy Products Judging Contest which allowed her to judge in the 2011 U.S. Championship Cheese Contest. She is currently the Mozzarella Production Manager for Saputo Cheese at their Lena, WI plant.


Dr. Johnson has served as Senior Scientist at the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research since 1980. He teaches cheese making and grading courses for industry. Mark’s main areas of interest are developing manufacturing and ripening protocols for specialty cheeses. Mark has served as a technical judge for the American Cheese Society, Australian Grand Dairy Awards, and U.S. and World Championship Cheese Contests.

MARK JOHNSON | WISCONSIN

A third-generation cheese maker, John coordinates the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research Cheese Industry and Applications Group. He is directly involved with Center cheese training courses in addition to serving on the Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker Board of Directors. He has judged in many contests, including the World and United States Championship Cheese Contests.

JOHN JAEGGI | WISCONSIN

Glenn is currently Director of Quality Systems for Pacific Cheese Co. He is a Registered Microbiologist and Cer-tified Quality Auditor with over 40 years experience, both domestic and international, in the development and manufacture of various cheeses, dairy ingredients and cultures. Mr. Hatcher has judged at previous U.S. and World Championship Cheese Contests.

GLENN HATCHER | CALIFORNIAEric has a B.S. in Food Science Technology & Business and a M.S. of Food Science with a chemistry concentration from the University of Tennessee, where he later worked as Plant Manager and Extension Specialist. While at University of Tennessee he consulted with many dairy processing plants in the United States and Europe, also assisted coaching the colligate dairy products judging team. In 2015, Eric started work at the Mississippi State Uni-versity as the General Manager of Custer Dairy Processing Plant.

ERIC GOAN | MISSISSIPPI

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KERRY KAYLEGIANPENNSYLVANIADr. Kerry E. Kaylegian is the Dairy Foods Research & Extension Asso-ciate at the Pennsylvania State Uni-versity, Dept. of Food Science. Kerry is coach of the Penn State Collegiate Dairy Products Evaluation Team, advisor to the Penn State Cheese Club and Pennsylvania Cheese Guild, and the Chair of Pennsylvania Farm Show Cheese Competition. Her degrees are in Food Science with an emphasis on dairy products, she has a B.S. and M.S. from the University of Wisconsin, and a Ph.D. and post-doctoral fellowship from Cornell University.

Kathy Howe is a Multiple Products Grader for the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture where she has been involved in grading cheese and butter. Her previous lifelong career and experience was in Quality Assurance in the cheese industry. Ms. Howe has previously judged at the Wisconsin State Fair, World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Products Contest and the U.S. Championship Cheese Contest.

KATHY HOWE | WISCONSIN


Charles is the Dairy Program Manager for the New York State Department of Agriculture and Mar-kets and has worked with cheese and other dairy products for more than 30 years. He has served as a judge for many previous U.S. and World Championship Cheese Contests, as well as the Chief Judge for the NYS Fair Dairy Products Contest.

CHARLES LINDBERG NEW YORK

TERRY LENSMIRE | WISCONSINTerry has been a Licensed Cheese-maker for almost 40 years and a licensed cheese grader for over 30 years. Mr. Lensmire is a Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker and currently is the Product Development Manag-er for Agropur Inc. in Appleton, Wis. Terry judged at past U.S. and World Championship Cheese Contests.

Laura is a Raw/Materials Grading Supervisor at Masters Gallery Foods. She has held a Wisconsin cheese graders license for American Cheese for the past six years, and received a Swiss Cheese grader license in 2014. Laura has judged for the Wisconsin State Fair and the World Dairy Expo cheese contests. Also, she has been part of the B–Team for many past U.S. and World Cheese Championship Contests.

LAURA LAEHN | WISCONSIN

MICHELLE MALONE WISCONSINMichelle has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology from UW-Eau Claire and a Masters of Science in Food Science from UW-Madison. Michelle has worked with dairy products since 1988, with the last 15 years at Schreiber Foods where she has led the product development teams and is currently leading Inno-vation and Sensory teams. Michelle has served as a yogurt and a cheese judge in several Championship contests and is recognized as a dairy expert within Schreiber.

Dan has worked in the Dairy industry for 40 years, the last 16 years as the cheese grader for DairiConcepts. He also works with the State of Minne-sota as a judge for their cheese and butter contests. Dan has judged at several recent U.S. and World Cham-pionship Cheese Contests.

DAN KONZ | MINNESOTAGreg Kinate has nearly 40 years of experience in nearly all facets of the cheese industry-procurement, pro-duction, sales, packaging and grad-ing. He has been fortunate to have been a part of many judging contests and is looking forward to 2017’s US Contest. He is currently the Procure-ment Manager at Winona Foods in Green Bay, WI.

GREG KINATE | WISCONSIN


Ken is the President & Owner of Wis-consin Aging & Grading Cheese, Inc. (WAG), Little Chute, Wis. He is a sec-ond generation WI licensed cheese grader, buyer & seller. Ken has been in the cheese industry for over 40 years and has judged at previous Wisconsin State Fair and World Dairy Expo Contests, as well as at previous United States Championship Cheese Contests.

KEN NEUMEIER | WISCONSIN

CHRISTOPHE MEGAVAND NEW JERSEY

VIRGIL METZGER| ILLINOISVirg Metzger is a Cheese and Dairy Consultant since retiring from Kraft Foods after 41 years. In addition to his technical work, Virg enjoys work-ing as a Cheese judge for the National Collegiate Dairy Products Evaluation contest, the US and World Cheese Championship Contests.Virg received a B.S. and M.S. in Dairy Science from South Dakota State University in 1969 and 1971.

Gina was raised on a fifth generation family dairy farm and has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Food Science, a Master of Business Administration Degree, and Wisconsin Buttermaker and Cheesemaker Licenses. As a member of the Cheese Industry and Applications Group at CDR, Gina works closely with cheese brokers, ingredient suppliers, and manufac-turers with everything from cheese trials and troubleshooting to short courses and outreach efforts. She has served as a technical judge for national and international cheese contests.

GINA MODE | WISCONSIN

MAX McCALMAN | NEW YORKNeville has more than 40 years of dairy industry experience, beginning in New Zealand. He founded CheezSorce in 2001, serving new entrants to the midsize and micro dairy business, and opened the equipment/building division SDI, in 2011. He frequently speaks and consults on cheese making and safe food processing, and serves as an International and Domestic Cheese Judge. Neville is also an avid scientific and artistic creator, leading the way in food environment technol-ogies.

NEVILLE McNAUGTON | MISSOURI

Christophe, Executive Vice Pres-ident of Cheese Operations for Arthur Schuman Inc., has over 35 years of experience in development and manufacturing Alpine specialty cheeses, soft ripened cheeses as well as soft and hard Italian cheeses. Many of his products have been both internationally and nationally acclaimed multi-year recipients of awards.

Max McCalman is the Director of Cheese Studies for New York City’s Institute of Culinary Education and is the author of: Mastering Cheese, Les-sons forConnoisseurship from a Maître Fromager; The Cheese Plate; Cheese, a Connoisseur’sGuide to the World’s Best; Max McCalman’s Swatchbook of Wine & Cheese Pairings; and of Max McCalman’s Cheese & Wine Pairing app on iTunes. McCalman is a MaîtreFromager in the Guilde Internationale des Fromagers Saint-Uguzon and he is on the ACS Board of Directors, where he was a founding member of the Cer-tified Cheese Professional endeavor.


As the Dairy Safety & QualityCoordinator for the Center for Dairy Research, Marianne assists plants with HACCP implementation, quality issues, performs third-party audits, serves as a regulatory liaison, and participates in numerous grading contests. She graduated with a B.S. in Food Science from the University of Wisconsin and has more than 30 years of experience in the industry.

MARIANNE SMUKOWSKI WISCONSIN

MARIANA MARQUES DE ALMEIDA WISCONSIN

David is a Regional Manager at Chr. Hansen. He began judging cheese while attending South Dakota State University and received his Wis-consin cheese graders license in the early 1980s. Since 1996, he has regularly judged the IMPA Cheese Contest, and has judged at past U.S. and World Championship Cheese Contests.

DAVID SATTERNESS SOUTH DAKOTA

JOHN SIMPSON | ILLINOIS

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Ben has been involved in the cheese industry since 2007 - the 4th genera-tion at Novak’s Cheese of Wisconsin. His duties beyond grading cheese include procurement, sales, & lo-gistics. Ben judged at the 2013 U.S. Championship Cheese Contest as well as other industry contests.

BEN NOVAK | WISCONSIN MIKE PEDERSON | WISCONSINMike became a cheese grader more than 35 years ago and is currently employed with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture where he routinely inspects cheese and butter for compliance with cheese grading regulations. He is Chief Judge at the Wisconsin State Fair Cheese Contest and has judged at several past U.S. and World Championship Cheese Contests and other industry contests.

John became licensed as a Wiscon-sin cheesemaker in 1981. He has worked for the USDA Dairy Grading Branch since 1985 as a Field inspector/Grader, and is currently the Field Supervisor for the Eastern U.S.

Mariana Marques de Almeida has a degree in Agricultural Science from the University of Lisbon in Portugal. She specialized in sheep and goat milk production and dairy products. Mar-iana lives in Monroe, Wisconsin and started Ms. J and Co., to help develop the sheep and goat dairy industry in the U.S.


Matt is a Wisconsin licensed cheese grader with nearly 20 years of cheese industry experience, starting with cheese research and cheese grading. Currently working as the Domestic Cheese Procurement Manager at Saputo Cheese USA, Matt has judged at the Wisconsin State Fair and World Dairy Products Association Contests. He is a B-Team volunteer veteran.

MATT ZIMBRIC | ILLINOIS

ERIC VORPAHL | WISCONSINEric hails from a family whose livelihood has stemmed from the dairy industry for generations. He earned his cheese graders license in 2012, and currently works as the National Sales Manager for Grassland DAiry Products. A long-time B-Team member, Eric has also judged at the U.S. Championship Cheese Contest.

DAVID WENTZ | WISCONSINDave is currently employed at Sar-gento Foods Inc as the Supply Quality Manager-Cheese. Was the Corporate Cheese Grader for Sargento for 4 years and holds a Wisconsin Cheese Grading License for American and Swiss style cheeses. Dave holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in Business.

Cathy is the Global Cheese Buyer at Whole Foods Market. She is a member of several industry associations and currently serves as the New World President of Inter-national Guilde des Fromagers de Saint-Uguzon. Her palette and expertise have been solicited all around the world to serve as a judge in cheese contests, including several past U.S. and World Cham-pionship Cheese Contests.

CATHY STRANGE | TEXAS DON TRIBBY | MISSOURI

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Don is employed by Dupont Nutri-tion & Health for the last 22 years. He is an Account Manager that is responsible for dairy, bakery, culi-nary and pet food accounts. Don has been active in many dairy prod-uct judging contests and has been a judge for the National College Dairy Product Judging Contest for the last 30 years.

Dr. White has over 40 years of food industry experience. He coached the students of both Mississippi State University and Middle Tennessee State University Dairy Products Judging Team. Charlie has served as expert judge in several past U.S. and World Championship Cheese Contests.

CHARLES WHITE | TENNESSEE

2017 Contest Chief Judges MARCH 7 -9, 2017 | GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN

Chief Judge EmeritusBill SchlinsogMiddleton, WISCONSINBill served with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture in cheese grading, inspection and marketing roles prior to his retirement. For more than 25 years, Bill has been a key leader in WCMA’s Championship Cheese Contests, including 17 years as Chief Judge.

Contest ChairmanBrian Eggebrecht Colby, WISCONSINBrian is an owner and leader at Welcome Dairy in Colby, Wisconsin. For more than 25 years, Brian has lead all contest logistics and execu-tion for the Championship Cheese Contests of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association. Long may he reign.

Chief JudgeRobert AschebrockStratford, WISCONSINBob was a career inspector and dairy product grader for the U.S. Department of Agriculture before his retirement. Bob now consults with cheese manufacturers nation-wide and devotes countless hours of service to the Championship Cheese Contests of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association.

Assistant Chief JudgeStan DietscheFond du Lac, WISCONSINStan is vice president, sales and procurement for Oshkosh Cheese Sales and Storage in Oshkosh, Wis. where he has worked since 1994. Stan’s service to the Championship Cheese Contests began in 1985 as expert judge.

Assistant Chief JudgeTim Czmowski Sioux Falls, SOUTH DAKOTATim manages Agropur’s cheese operation in Hull, Iowa after success-ful quality and operations work with Green Meadows Foods, Tetra Pak CPS and Valley Queen Cheese Factory. Tim served as expert judge before becom-ing assistant chief judge to the Champi-onship Cheese Contests.

Assistant Chief JudgeJim Mueller Green Bay, WISCONSINJim has more than 40 years of dairy experience and is a Wisconsin licensed Cheesemak-er and Grader. He now provides technical service expertise to the industry as a contractor through Mueller Consulting. Jim has judged at many industry contests and serves in Contest leadership.

Assistant Chief JudgeSandy ToneyPlymouth, WISCONSINSandy is the Vice President of Corporate Quality and Product Development at Masters Gallery Foods. A Wisconsin licensed cheese grader for nearly 20 years, she has served as judge for the Wisconsin State Fair, the U.S. Champi-onship Cheese Contest and the World Championship Cheese Contest and joins the Contest leadership this year.

2017 Expert Judges Darigold, Doug was a Cheese Plant Manager, Project and Cheese Technology Manager....

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