SEARCH FIND OUR PRODUCTS CULINARY PROFESSIONALS ORGANIC PRODUCTS MISSION & PRACTICES ABOUT .st0{fill:#FFFFFF;} HOME > ABOUT > TEAM TEAM SHARE FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL People are our most valuable resource. They are the heart and soul of Straus Family Creamery and make everything we believe in happen. With more than 100 employees, it’s impossible to feature everyone. However, we invite you to get to know a few employees from various positions throughout the company: SUSTAINABILITY DIRECTOR JOSEPH BUTTON How long have you worked at Straus? More than four years. What is your favorite Straus product? I like to start my day with vanilla Greek yogurt topped with fruit and granola, but the real magic happens at dessert when I have Dutch chocolate and cookies and cream ice cream. How did you get here? What did you do before? Practically speaking, my wife, kids, and myself drove north from Monterey to Petaluma. Three hours from fish town to cow town. I have an educational background in global business and international environmental policy. I’ve worked in a variety of fields (energy, climate, localized business consulting, and international humanitarian development) that have prepared me for an opportunity like this. What do you like about working at Straus? Doing sustainability well is a constant challenge. I like that. There is nothing simple about making decisions that impact the long-term traditional success of a business while co-valuing the health of the environment, and the well-being of the community members and value chain stakeholders that are involved or impacted by our business. There is tremendous potential within the business sector to make transformational changes to the way our society works, for the betterment of people and the environment. Straus Family Creamery is focused on realizing this potential, and that is why I enjoy working here. What do you do in your free time? On an ideal day, I’ll get to make dinner and talk the day away with my wife. I spend most of my time playing with my kids and acting out their imaginations. On the weekends, it’s always fun to explore a Sonoma County regional park and enjoy nature. There is also this fleeting memory of being an active soccer player. That sounds fun too. Where have you lived most of your life? By length of time: Western Washington, California, and Washington D.C. PRODUCTION PLANNING & ADMINISTRATION MANAGER MIGUEL GONZALES How long have you been at Straus? More than 20 years. How did you get here? What did you do before? I was in Mexico and was working on dairies there. After I came to the US, one of my friends recommended Straus Family Creamery and they gave me the opportunity. When I started here, I was first working on sanitation, then I switched to the different lines. I started at the glass line, then moved to the plastic, and later became an operator at the butter and ice cream lines. I then became Production Supervisor, Production Manager, Director of Production, and now Production Planning & Administration Manager. What is your favorite Straus product? I say everything! If I had to pick, I would say Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, but I also like the yogurt. What do you like about working at Straus? I love working in a team, to train and to help other workers when they have questions or when they have difficulties setting priorities. I really like my job. What do you do in your free time? I don’t have much free time, but when I do I spend it with my family. PEOPLE & CULTURE DIRECTOR LAURANGELICA “ANGEL” LECHÓN How long have you been at Straus? More than 11 years. How did you get here? What did you do before? By chance. I was a student in my last semester at Sonoma State doing research work for a professor in the languages department. He left an email printout on my workstation from a recruiter regarding an open position with a “wonderful, local, organic dairy” looking for a bilingual “People & Culture Partner”. I loved, loved, loved the sound of that title and the description of the job. Since I already owned four pairs of cowboy boots, I figured, what the heck, I should see about this dairy opportunity. The rest is her-story. What is your favorite Straus product? Hmmmm… my favorite? The butter. I bring a stick with me when I go out for breakfast, you know, in case someone uses other butter. Everything is better with Straus butter. Everything. Seriously. What do you like about working at Straus? Our mission and the fact that we truly stand by it — it isn’t just lip service to anyone here. I love that our triple-bottom line includes a commitment to our employees. I love that Straus embraces diversity and that my own cultural duality is so sincerely appreciated. I love that I am able to come to work every day and have the opportunity to help any member of our team — be it for work issues like benefits or payroll, or be it for matters outside of work such as getting housing info, resources or information to apply for college and financial aid. I love that our organization is so awesome — every day I am terribly proud to be part of it. What do you do in your free time? Enjoy my two kids. And hike. I’ve been doing that for a year now and I love it. Recently I did a 25-mile hike. I enjoy gardening too. This year I am actually growing my own non-GMO, organic vegetables for the first time ever — tomatoes and beets. I got the hook-up for organic compost from Albert’s farm, which is totally cool. SITE DIRECTOR IAN-HERO SERRANO How long have you been at Straus? More than 10 years. How did you get here? What did you do before? This is my first job out of college. I grew up in the Philippines and came to the US when I was 14 years old. After high school, I joined Summer Search, which is a mentorship and scholarship program that helped me go to college. I graduated in 2010 with a degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology. What is your favorite Straus product? I would say that my favorite is Dutch Chocolate Ice Cream. What do you like about working at Straus? I like that it is fast-paced and busy, because time flies and every day I learn something new. Learning is a really big thing for me. There are all these opportunities they have given me at Straus Family Creamery: to learn, to grow and to take on leadership — I am very thankful for that. What do you do in your free time? I stay active and I run a lot outdoors. I also started to play soccer with the Straus team, although I never really cared about soccer. But playing on this team is a lot of fun. FOUNDER AND CEO ALBERT STRAUS How long have you been at Straus? Since the beginning, more than 26 years ago. How did you get here? What did you do before? After studying Dairy Science at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, I returned to the Straus Dairy and managed it. Later, in 1994, I founded the creamery. What is your favorite Straus product? Ice cream of course. Right now my favorite is the Vanilla Chocolate Chip. What do you like about working at Straus? Making great dairy products. I like working with farmers and the challenges of making things better and more sustainable. People here are great to work with. What do you do in your free time? There isn’t much! Try to get exercise and be outside on the farm as much as possible. CONTACT FAQ PRESS ROOM FOODSHED FARMERS’ MARKETS RESOURCES CAREERS All of Straus Family Creamery’s certified organic milk products are Non-GMO Project Verified, certified kosher, and gluten free. FIND OUR PRODUCTS See where to purchase Straus organic milk, yogurt, ice cream, butter, and sour cream. 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