Chuck Hellmer
Chuck is perhaps the only Midwestern president of a cheese company with a serious dairy allergy. The Ohio native discovered Haystack in 2003, while searching for an alternate-milk cheese that didn’t exacerbate his allergies to the bovine variety (he succeeded–thanks Boulder Chevre!). Now he runs the joint.
Chuck’s background is in electric utilities, where he’s worked as an auditor, process improvement facilitator, IT project manager and account manager, and financial director. He actually loves that stuff. But he’s quick to add, “How can you not love goats?”
Chuck was Haystack’s operations, financial, and project manager from late 2006 to early 2009. In February 2009, he became President and General Manager. He still gets to play on the computer, and while his cheese consumption is limited by necessity, he’s a big fan of the Haystack culture (no pun intended). In his free time, Chuck enjoys hiking, peak-bagging 14ers, road biking, and playing his family of guitars.