LA VALLE, WIS. — Jim Natzke has been named chief executive officer at Carr Valley Cheese.

He brings more than two decades of dairy industry experience to the artisan cheesemaker’s helm, most recently as a consultant specializing in packaging and quality control systems. Before that, he was operations manager and owner at Alpine Slicing and vice president of supply chain and logistics at Emmi-Roth. He also held production and quality control positions at Maple Leaf Cheese and Roth Kase USA.

He will focus on continued growth, quality assurance and national brand recognition in his new role.

“There is no doubt this is a challenging time for our farmers, our team and our customers,” Mr. Natzke said. “Carr Valley is already well-positioned for the current challenges, and we will be working hard right away to do everything we can to support the stakeholders in Carr Valley during the pandemic and recovery.”

Sid Cook, owner and master cheesemaker at Carr Valley Cheese, will continue to serve as chairman of the board.

“I’ve known Jim for a long time and his experience as a proven executive in the cheese arena is widely recognized,” Mr. Cook said. “It is a very exciting opportunity for him to join us in accelerating our growth as well as optimizing operations.”