Great Lakes Cheese

We are honored to share Great Lakes Cheese was selected by ERC for the second year in a row as a 2024 NorthCoast 99 winner. The workplace award recognizes and honors 99 Northeast Ohio workplaces for top talent. #NC99 This award symbolizes and celebrates yet again the commitment of our employee-owners to believing in a shared vision and working together to achieve our goals. Thank you to each of our employee-owners for all you do to make Great Lakes Cheese a top workplace.

It is bittersweet as we are celebrating our outgoing CEO, Dan Zagzebki’s last week in-office.   Dan's well-deserved retirement is the culmination of a remarkable career spanning three decades in the dairy industry. Dan owned and operated Lemke Cheese for 10 years before selling to Great Lakes Cheese and has been with us for 20+ years, serving as President and CEO since 2015.   Under his leadership, Great Lakes Cheese has flourished tremendously, nearly doubling the size of our operation. Dan has always had a passion for advancing dairy's united voice, serving on various industry Boards. He served as Chair of the IDFA Executive Council in 2019 and 2020 and was awarded the dairy industry's highest honor, the IDFA Laureate Award, in 2022 for his dedication and leadership.   Dan plans to spend his well-deserved retirement traveling, adventuring in the outdoors, and spending time with his wife Dana, their children, and grandchildren. Please join us in congratulating Dan Zagzebski on his well-deserved retirement! 

As we bid a fond farewell to our respected President and CEO, Dan Zagzebski, we are excited to share that the Board of Directors has selected Bob Sarver, Executive Vice President of Packaging Operations and Sales as Dan’s successor. Bob has been with Great Lakes Cheese since 2018 holding a variety of leadership roles in continuous improvement, operations, and sales. The Board selected Bob for the role of President and CEO because of his commitment to fostering long-term relationships with our key partners, expertise in food manufacturing, and his dedication to the Great Lakes Cheese ownership culture. Our company’s passion for excellence remains steadfast, with the best leadership guiding us forward. Congratulations, Bob! Bob will assume the role of President and CEO effective August 1, 2024. Dan will then become the Outgoing President and CEO and will support Bob in the transition. He will join Bob on several customer, supplier, and other key partner visits through the end of the year.

Join Great Lakes Cheese and dairy lovers around the country as we celebrate National Dairy Month! It is an annual observance in the United States that takes place during the month of June. We pay tribute to the dairy industry and work to promote the consumption of dairy products while recognizing the contributions of dairy farmers and the importance of dairy in our diets. For more information about how you can celebrate in your community, visit www.thedairyalliance.com.

We're thrilled to welcome our summer intern cohort who started with us this Tuesday, on National Cheese Day! 🧀 Our interns spent this week at our Corporate Headquarters with cross-functional leaders learning about our state-of-the-art manufacturing operations. The group spent time learning how we continue to improve the quality of our cheese products, the customers we're proud to serve, and even how to make the perfect cheese board. We're so excited to have our interns on board for the summer and are eager to see how they contribute to the success of our business. Learn more about the early career opportunities we offer for students on our website at https://lnkd.in/gpiUhYdj

Happy birthday to our founder, Hans Epprecht! Over 65 years ago, Hans turned his passion for cheese into a family business, inspiring generations of employee-owners who continue to embrace the values of hard work, honesty, and integrity each day.

Get a slice of this action in Vegas next week for Pizza Expo Tuesday, March 19 - Thursday, March 21 at booth 3329 and try out pizzas 🍕featuring our 🌶️ Carolina Reaper 🔥 and award-winning 🤩 Empire Select Mozzarella cheeses 🧀!

Congratulations to our Vice President of Supply Chain and Procurement, Suresh Babu, for receiving the Lifetime Achievement award for Rockstars of Supply Chain 2024! “Great Lakes Cheese is committed to providing a 99% plus service level to our customers. This is only possible by continually reinvesting not only in physical infrastructure but people and systems,” says Babu. Thank you, Suresh, for your dedication, leadership, and significant contributions to Great Lakes Cheese and the dairy industry. Read more here:

Congratulations, Rob! Rob Shumaker, our Senior Manager of Food Safety and Laboratory, was awarded the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA)’s 2024 Food Safety Leadership Award today at Dairy Forum in Phoenix, Arizona. The award, now in its eighth year, honors an individual, group, or organization for demonstrating outstanding leadership directed at enhancing food safety within the dairy products industry. Thank you, Rob, for your dedication, leadership, and significant contributions to Great Lakes Cheese and the dairy industry. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/db_sJjSV

We might not be able to shop at work, but we certainly hunted for treasure! Last week, employee-owners at our corporate office participated in our first ever “Trade and Treasure”, a sustainable shopping experience where employee-owners brought in over 615 gently used or brand new items to our “store” and discovered someone else’s treasures to take home. GLC continually looks for ways to make sustainability a win-win experience. This event allowed employee-owners to create space in their homes, save money, minimize their environmental impact by reusing instead of buying new, and connect with colleagues in a fun, new way. Learn more about other ways we pursue win-win-win solutions for our people, products, and planet on our website at https://lnkd.in/gawDBysq