Laura earned her Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology from Vanderbilt University, where she studied cellular responses to stress in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. From her Ph.D. work, she started her first role in the brewing industry as Head Brewer and Director of Quality Assurance at Tennessee Brew Works in Nashville before joining Great Central in Chicago and now as Omega Yeast's Director of R&D!

Gregor was born in Orleans, France. After mastering the art of crepe making as a young garçon, he moved to Chicago where he studied Biology at Loyola University. In an attempt to assimilate to the New World, he began drinking beer instead of wine. Gregor joined the Omega team with over 10 years of brewing and quality experience, working in breweries large and small. When he’s not wrangling his two young boys Otis and Finn, Gregor spends his free time training Brazilian jiu jitsu, cooking, and drinking crispy bois

Samuel is a Wisconsinite turned Illinoisan. Having worked in macro, regional, and micro breweries in Milwaukee and Chicago, Samuel knows beer at all its scales. He holds a degree in microbiology and can count cells in his sleep—but he really just likes hanging with his pets and mowing the lawn.

Adi was Omega’s very first employee in 2014, and he holds our record for most years of homebrewing experience! He’s a Portland, OR native and a former anthropology professor. He enjoys reggae covers of 1980’s hits and Turkish music, and he is a father of 4 (including twins!).

Taylor, an Arizona native, is our Wort Production Master. You can typically find him manning the kettle, operating the forklift or fixing something. He spends his free time remodeling his home and teaching his daughter Lincoln Jane how to help.

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Richard is a Chicago native and recently made the career change to something he’s passionate about - beer.  He enjoys attending concerts and beer fests (obviously) and taking care of his pet tarantula, Sparkles.

Keith holds a degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Illinois at Chicago. When not reading about beer related topics he is most likely reading about wizards (occasionally a "Wizzard")* or something equally as cool. He would like to assure you that the problem is never having too many books, it's just not having enough shelves.

*If you know, you know.

Matt makes the wort that all his coworkers dump down the drain. He makes sure it is nice and safe wort, but every time they just pour it down the drain. It makes the yeast happy at least. Also, he enjoys coffee and line drinking!

Bianca was born and raised in California, and quickly found a home at Omega after moving to Chicago. She’s our self-proclaimed “Queen of the Lab” and is a master at operating lab production. She loves homebrewing, candid photography, and her pride and joy is a puppy named Homer whom she’s trying to turn into the office dog (it’s not working out).

Demi was born and raised in the western Chicago suburbs and came to Omega with some fantastic brewery experience. In her spare time, you'll often find her researching/identifying plants, insects, fungi and various creepy crawlies. Her favorite creeper is her greenbottle blue tarantula (creatively) named Blue. She also prides herself on her postcard collection which she's attained by taking part in an international postcard exchange called Postcrossing.

After earning a degree in Theatre, Nick explored woodworking and guitar construction. He now spends his free time experimenting with food and beer recipes. He loves trying to learn something new every day. He loves operating the forklift for shipping and receiving tasks, and when it’s really time to focus strongly on large tasks, he loves to play the Bangles Greatest Hits and Nena 99 Luftballons albums.

Lauren is a Chicago native who came to us from the pharmaceutical industry. She enjoys homebrewing, cooking, making kombucha and sourdough bread (yay yeast!). Lauren is also an avid runner and she has a loud and loving cat named Tiny, and a spunky bearded dragon named Ziggy.

Nik (not short for anything, just simply…Nik) was born and raised in Chicago. He volunteers every year for CHIDITAROD and raises money to support hunger advocacy. He plays the guitar and piano in his free time and occasionally plays in a band called the HOT COPS!

Danielle is Dublin born and St. Louis raised. She strategizes with Katie and Mark on the St. Louis team. Other than deep gazes at data, she loves experiencing the world through food and drink, and first fell in love with beer while working in the Czech Republic. Her weekends are ruled by epic craft beer fueled craft projects and podcasts. She’s excited to learn more by test brewing with these yeastie geniuses.

Nicole spends her time supporting the administrative side of the lab. She is originally from the Detroit area. Nicole enjoys reading, going to shows, listening to The Best Show, and spending time with friends.

Katie is a St. Louis native and works out of our St. Louis business office.  Her hobbies include baking, napping, watching Teen Mom, and hanging out with her husband and toddler daughters, Lucy and Gwennie. Katie jumpstarts her day with a Nesquick chocolate milk every morning, and has for the past 15 years.

Chris (Chicago born, suburb raised) has been home brewing since 2013 and recently decided to make a career change into the craft beer industry. When he's not brewing, he's home cooking, pwning noobs while gaming, hanging with his pup Ralphie, or enjoying the occasional shower beer.

Haley is a proud St. Louis native and loves seeing the craft beer world grow both locally and nationally. When she’s not strategizing with the business team, she enjoys going to festivals and events with friends, home cooking meals, traveling and exploring new brews, and walking around her neighborhood with her spoiled doggo and partner in crime, Arlo and Tim respectively.

Brett is a St. Louis native, and our resident computer science mastermind. In his free time, he plays social kickball (too much for a grown adult) and takes care of his pet Shiba Inu named Calypso. His favorite Omega Yeast strain is All the Bretts, obviously.

Jarrell is very silly and friendly. He loves to stay active playing sports (football, bowling, tennis) and watching them as well. He is a movie, tv show, anime, filmmaking, video game playing enigma who loves BEER! IPAs are his favorite and prefer the beer to be 5% or higher!

Alex has got a real fondness for fungi. He’s a microbiologist from Virginia Commonwealth University, who spent his undergrad researching wild yeast. Now he enjoys the stranger side of beer, always on the look out for something tart and funky.

Mike is our resident Master Brewer with a diploma from the World Brewing Academy. He grew up in Philadelphia, studied music in college, and plays in the band Secondhand Sausage. He loves reading on the beach in the summer months, and he has an orange munchkin cat named April Mae.

Max attended Northern Michigan University and majored with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in photography. Although, his art focus changed when he became an Assistant Brewer shortly after graduation. With five years of commercial brewing experience under his belt, he now manages Omega's Homebrew department. In his spare time you can find him brewing on his pilot system, cooking, competitive gaming, and growing some of the hottest peppers on the planet.

Stephen is a graduate of the University of Illinois and an avid homebrewer. He is also a karaoke superstar as well as Omega's resident breakdance expert.

Lisa is a Chicago native with a degree in Photography and was previously the GM of a brewery. She has two dogs and a cat, but would likely have a horde of both if possible. She counts her time in between exploring new restaurants as "filler", and can be found sweating onions and garlic, preemptively, for the next cooking video that sparks her fancy. Hidden talent: knowing actors by movie, but never, and I repeat never, by name.

Sammie was born and raised in the St. Louis region and is a recent transplant to Chicago. Sammie has bounced around between the brewing and cocktail bartending industry since turning 21 and is excited to have found himself on the Omega team. When he's not at work you can find him working on his liqueur making blog, drinking lagers, or twiddling knobs on synthesizers.

Bill, a fellow beer and coffee enthusiast, works with the business team on implementing social media strategy. If he’s not at a brewery, coffeeshop, or diner, he can typically be found reading with his 85lb rescue pitbull, Chicken Nugget.

Tori is a native New Yorker who found a home in Chicago. She spent several years slinging’ coffee and is excited to continue her adventure in beer and yeast! Most of her free time is spent experimenting with sourdough and other breads, while covering her two black cats, Catboy and Frodo, in flour. Tori enjoys the occasional beer and and the cats enjoy the occasional slice of bread.

His recipe for deviled eggs involves actual witchcraft. He taught his dog to bark in Spanish. When he visited Pamplona, the bulls ran from him. His archnemesis lists him as an emergency contact. He once slammed a revolving door. He doesn't always drink beer, but when he.. wait, no - yes he does.