Bringing Peace, Love and Dairy to the World

Jennifer Lynn Bice, Owner

In 1978, Jennifer Lynn Bice assumed ownership of Redwood Hill Farm & Creamery, the family farm and grade A goat dairy her parents built in Sonoma County in 1968. Along with her late husband, Steven Schack, Jennifer expanded the business to produce a greater variety of goat milk products, and diversified the dairy goat-breeding program.

Today Redwood Hill Farm & Creamery is owned and operated by Jennifer along with 45 dedicated employees. Promoting the benefits of goat milk products and developing a genetics program of excellence remains her top priorities, and this commitment has positioned Redwood Hill Farm & Creamery at the forefront of the dairy goat industry.Jennifer’s expertise and experience with crafting fine goat milk products gave her an extensive background in creating products for sensitive stomachs. In many ways, she became an expert in foods that promote digestive health. She knew that many people out there were lactose intolerant and searching for options. This gave her the motivation to provide these people with more choices. She knew lactose free dairy yogurt would have a strong niche, just like her goat’s milk products. That is how her pride and joy – Redwood Hill Farm – gave birth to Green Valley Organics®.

Satisfying & Sustainable

Having established herself as an entrepreneur and a pioneer in the California artisan cheese and goat dairy products movement, quality and sustainability have remained Jennifer’s guiding principles over the years. From artisan cheeses consistently awarded in national competitions, to superior goat milk yogurt and kefir, to a dairy goat breeding program that has brought her national acclaim, Jennifer Bice remains true to her vision of providing a satisfying and sustainable life-style for the farm, the dairy goats and all of Redwood Hill Farm’s and Green Valley Organics® employees.

Nationally Recognized

Jennifer has served as a dairy goat judge throughout the United States and Canada for more than 31 years. In addition, she holds the distinct honor of being selected to judge the American Dairy Goat Association (ADGA) National Show seven times. She is the Chair of ADGA’s Linear Appraisal Program and co-chair of the Judge’s Training Committee.

A Global Perspective

At the International Conference on Goats in France, Jennifer had the opportunity to learn about the dairy goat industry from a global perspective as well as dairying and cheese production in the country that continues to lead the world in the development of fine goat milk cheese. Jennifer lives in her new home, an extension of the goat dairy, with her partner Don and their two dogs Malia and Annie.

Atanas Draganski, Creamery Plant Manager / COO

“Nasko,” as we call him, began milking goats at Redwood Hill Farm in 1997 after emigrating from Bulgaria. Bringing with him a B.S. in Agricultural Economics, Atanas has done it all at the farm and creamery - from milking goats, making cheese and yogurt, delivering products to stores, and now, overseeing the creamery and its 45 employees!

His hard work, pride and enthusiasm have vaulted him to the top of operations, and he’s living the “American dream” with Zlatina and their daughter, Alexandra. When he’s not working, Atanas enjoys spending time with his family, playing soccer and tennis, and his computers.

Darlene Hawley, CPA / CFO

Darlene is a Sonoma County native. She had six years of private accounting experience and thirteen years of public accounting experience prior to joining the accounting team at Redwood Hill Farm. Darlene had provided services in individual, partnership and corporate taxation, financial accounting and consulting during those years in public practice. Darlene is a graduate of Sonoma State University and a member of both the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the California Society of Certified Public Accountants. She also is a member of the Rotary Club of Sebastopol Sunrise group and a board member of the Humane Society of Sonoma County.
"My experience in public accounting has allowed me to work in a variety of fields with a variety of clients. I enjoy continuing my connection with the dairy industry, as my father was a part of this industry his entire working career both in the Azores and after immigrating to the US. On a more personal note, my husband, Bill, and I enjoy all the wonders that Sonoma County has to offer and spending time with our dogs. I also, enjoy traveling, many outdoor activities and live theatre."

Andrew Malmanis, Accounting Manager

Andrew Malmanis was a public accountant for 5 years before joining the Redwood Hill Farm family in 2011. He graduated from Sonoma State University with Distinction as a BS Major in Business Administration—Concentration in Accounting.
 
Andrew is homegrown here in Sonoma County. His hobbies and interests include gardening, computers, home improvement, four wheeling, rebuilding cars, scuba, traveling, hiking/camping, and burning man.  His motto: work hard, play hard, have fun ...

Gary deParis, Operations & Cultured Products Manager

Gary brings an extensive dairy background to Green Valleys Organics. He’s been involved in operations for five major Northern California dairies since 1979, and he has a B.S. degree in dairy manufacturing from Cal Poly/San Luis Obispo.

Our Operations Manager since 2007, Gary works throughout the creamery to keep things running smoothly. He’s a skilled mechanic, and having him at Redwood Hill is instrumental in keeping all of our machinery finely tuned and operating efficiently.Gary and his wife Judy are both motorcycle enthusiasts. He even raced motorcycles in the past making him well-suited for the “fast life” at the creamery.

Customer Service & Sales Team

Customer Service, Sales & Marketing for Green Valley Organics® delicious products, L to R: Julie Foley, David Bice, Alex Aceves, Augusta Bates. Not shown: Dori Schack.

Yogurt Production Team

The team responsible for our delicious yogurt! L to R, Juan Rodriguez, Supervisor Jesus Pacheco, Cecelia Avalos-Flores, Carlos Frias, Jeff Sims, Ventura Ventura, Omar Solorio, Eduardo Lopez, Supervisor Georgi Karabelov.

Milk & Kefir Production Team

Bottling our fresh probiotic kefir each week, L to R: Benjamin Vazquez, Supervisor Luis Gonzales, Thomas Castro.

Plant Maintenance & Mechanics

Responsible for keeping it running smooth at the creamery day in and day out: Mike Jay and Jim Coyle.

Creamery Warehouse Team

Organizing and loading our delicious natural products each week are L to R: Rudolfo Pacheco, Rosa Alcantar, and Gamaliel Solis.

Jim Coyle, Creamery Mainenance Manager

Jim brings an extensive engineering maintenance background to Redwood Hill Creamery, having been involved in the fabrication and maintenance of automatic production machinery since 1969, and has been responsible for the managing of mechanical maintenance teams at food production facilities since 1999.
Our Maintenance Manager since 2010, Jim leads our creamery mechanical team, manages our parts inventory control and our preventative maintenance schedules to keep things running smoothly. He's a skilled tradesperson whose work here at the Redwood Hill Creamery is instrumental in keeping all of our production facility equipment operating efficiently. 
Jim and his wife Lori are both enjoy living in West Sonoma County, having migrated here in 2002 from Humboldt County. Jim's hobby is restoring and riding bicycles and motorcycles.

Graham Goodenough, Warehouse Manager

Graham joined the company in July of 2010 and is excited to be working for a thriving and wholesome company in the community where he grew up as a teenager. Graham graduated with a business degree in 2007 from San Diego State University. He is looking forward to applying his life/school/work experience and personality to his new position to see what kind of impact he may be able to make to the company.

Alexandra Aceves, Customer Service Manager

Since 2005, Alex has been the heart of our office, facilitating communication between departments, answering customer questions with enthusiasm and most recently, managing our Customer Service office. In her spare time, Alex loves to dance and enjoys reading.

Alex and her new husband, Jose, reside in the local town of Graton.  Her favorite quote is, “Do what you do so well that they want to see it again and bring their friends.”  Alex obviously takes this quote to heart because it is a pleasure to watch her "in action".

Sharon Bice, Communications Manager / Graphic Artist

Sharon grew up with the dairy goats as did the entire Bice family, and is our resident artist. All of the beautiful Redwood Hill logos, labels, graphic arts, food styling and photos are a result of Sharon’s artistic talents. As Jennifer’s “go to” person in the office for eleven years, Sharon also coordinates the events we’re involved in, assists in advertising, attends food shows, even helps with showing goats during the show season!

Sharon’s interests include painting, photography, gardening and music. She also finds time to volunteer as the editor for the Redwood Empire Dairy Goat Association and is on the board of directors for Community Support Network. She has two grown children, Levi and Jessica, who have also taken part in projects at Redwood Hill Farm over the years. Sharon loves living on the Russian River in nearby Forestville.

Julie Foley, Administrative Services Manager

Julie joined the Redwood Hill team in July of 2009 and has made a positive impact in our administative office.  Julie has a B.S. Degree in business and has experience with contract negotiation as well as event planning and management.

Sonoma County has been her home since 1994. She lives in Sebastopol with her husband Jim, their son J.T., daughter Cassidy, and a black Lab named Stella Blue.

A Wisconsin native, she is a Green Bay Packers fan (we love cheeseheads!), enjoys cooking (and eating), good wine and gardening.

Administration

L-R: Nancy Lorenz, Marketing & Communications Assistant, Cheryl Vargas, Human Resources and Records Administrator.
Also shown: Crissy the Office Dog, Vice President of All Good Things.