True Story: Shawn Pierce

Tell us about where you grew up

I grew up in a small town in Central Wisconsin called Marathon. The town sits along the Rib River and is at the start of the pine forests of the Northwoods. I spent a lot of my time exploring the woods and waterways which were only a stone’s throw from my house. Marathon is also home to the Marathon Cheese Company, where my dad worked as a cheese packager.

Tell us about where you went to school and what for

I spent five years at the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point and got a BS in Biochemistry. I spent a lot of my time going back and forth between being a biology major and a chemistry major. Finally, I decided Biochemistry would be a happy medium between the two.

Tell us about your training opportunities throughout your time at Agropur. 

Ever since day one, I’ve been learning a lot at Le Sueur Cheese. I’ve been trained in as a Pharma tech in our excipient lab, trained as an Administrative Assistant in the Whey Department, learned how to operate the areas in the Whey Department while being trained in as a Whey Shift Supervisor, and now find myself learning the ropes as the Lab Supervisor at Le Sueur Cheese.

Also, I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to enroll in and complete the LeadR program. I had the chance to work with and meet supervisors and those in training as future leaders. The greatest part about this program outside of the leadership lessons was the opportunity to network and meet all of the team players and leaders that we have at Agropur.

Tell us about your career path and how you have gotten to where you are today?

I consider myself a life-long learner and love having the opportunity to challenge myself to utilize what I know to solve problems and serve people. Agropur’s given me an awesome opportunity to put my college degree to use while challenging me to utilize my skills for the benefit of others.

After graduating college, I worked for two years as a teacher in Mankato, MN. Once realizing that I could more fully utilize my degree elsewhere, I applied to a lab tech position at Le Sueur Cheese. From the lab, I moved into the Whey Department, worked as an Administrative Assistant, and was then promoted to Whey Shift Supervisor. After getting trained in as a Shift Supervisor, the opportunity to move back to the lab as a supervisor opened up.

How has Agropur supported your growth within the company?

Honestly, I think the best thing that Agropur has done to support me is to continually push me to develop and be better. LeadR was one of the ways that the company has done this. But, continual development is also part of the culture here. While working in the Whey Department, my manager Greg Grundman, always found a way to bring the best out of me and help me realize how I could use my skills to make the company and the people I work with better.

What does your current role entail, and what kind of things do you work on?

I am now the Lab Supervisor at Le Sueur Cheese. I manage 18 people and, with their help and work, ensure that our cheese lab is staffed and providing accurate and reliable results so we can ensure our cheese meets customer specifications. We also have an excipient, in-process lab which runs 24-hours when we are running excipient lactose in the plant. 

Why do you love Agropur?

The team environment! There’s so much that needs to take place to keep this place running and it’s incredible to see it being done day-in and day-out. And the team environment is great because we have great team members.