Meet the Dairyland Seed Family: T.J. Strachota
BY Dairyland Seed Marketing Team
T.J. Strachota, is Dairyland Seed’s Sale Sales Effectiveness Manager (SEM) and works at the West Bend, Wis., headquarters. As the SEM, he is responsible for the planning and implementation of sales effectiveness and business development strategies for Dairyland Seed. By analyzing sales trends, performance data, and market share, he looks for areas whereby adding additional resources can drive growth for the business and identify areas of opportunity.
“Dairyland would not be the special place it is without the customers and employees that make it happen,” says T.J. “What gets me excited every day is knowing that the more I can do to improve Dairyland, the more our dealers and customers will benefit.”
Although this past June marked 19 years of working full time for Dairyland Seed, he grew up around the business and learned by watching, listening, and helping anyway he could. His first official job was during his high school years when he swept the warehouse on the weekends. From there, on his summer college breaks, he worked as an intern and was responsible for harvesting the alfalfa HAY (Hybrid Alfalfa Yield) plots throughout the Midwest. Over the course of his career at Dairyland Seed, he has primarily served in a marketing capacity, but gained knowledge and experience in other aspects of our historical business such as research and plant breeding, production, and warehousing.
What makes workday fun for T.J.? Planning for the future! He says, “Dairyland has had a lot of changes over the years and we’re going to need to continue to change into the future to remain successful. I want that next generation of farmers to get excited about doing business with Dairyland Seed.”
He is a huge Notre Dame football and Green Bay Packers fan and golfs when the opportunity arises. Fun fact..... his high school football team won the 1999 Wisconsin state championship and he was named 1st team all-state cornerback!
His hobbies have changed over the years and these days, when he’s not watching his kids in their various sports and activities, he helps coach flag football, baseball, and basketball. Weekends at the cabin in northern Wisconsin are spent fishing, water-skiing, and enjoying family time.
“I’m proud of the legacy of Dairyland Seed and where we came from. I’m also extremely excited about where we are going. I truly believe we have a huge opportunity at Dairyland Seed to partner with farmers and work together to make their operations even better,” says T.J. “We’re not here to fix something that’s broken, we’re here to help our customers achieve their goals. We have the right people, the right products, and will do things the right way so we can all be successful into the future.”
T.J. graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a bachelor’s degree in Marketing. He and his wife Katie reside in Cedarburg, WI, with their five children: Lauren, Patrick, Joey, Tommy, and Lizzie.