The Hon. Caroline Schaefer - President
Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Certificate of Rural Office Practice. Caroline grew up, lived and worked on Eyre Peninsula in marginal wheat farming country, until 1998, when she and her husband Roy shifted to a property at Clare where they planted Shiraz grapes. Her primary schooling was by distance education, so she has a real affinity with and understanding of remote areas. She has a particular interest in agri-politics Caroline entered State Parliament in August 1993, and has been actively involved on a great number of committees and councils. She was the first (and to date, only) woman in Australia to be appointed Primary Industries Minister. Caroline has been responsible for a number of initiatives promoting agricultural women in SA, including the delegation to Washington and the rural woman's award. She instigated the SA Rural Network and helped acquire funding for the 'Paperbark' magazine.
John Crosby - Past President
Member since 1993, President 1996-7 and 2005-8 John Crosby is currently Managing Director of JR Crosby and MJ Fisher which is involved in a substantial cattle, grain and irrigation property at Lucindale in South Australia. This business is the leading maize producer and marketer in SA. He is also Managing Director of C&F International Pty Ltd, an import/export business between Australia and SE Asia, principally Vietnam. John is also a Chairman of Ag-Management Pty Ltd. Prior to his current occupation John was General Manager, Asset Development with Elders. Responsibilities were centred on the hay and feedlot businesses and development of linkages with Asia. This follows periods as a director of Elders and Chairman of the NSW Meat Authority. During this period John was responsible for the introduction of uniform meat standards in Australia. In the period prior to 1994 John held various positions within NSW Farmers and the National Farmers Federation, culminating in Senior Vice President of both organisations. It was during this period that he led the NFF team which floated Elders away from Fosters and allowed the revival of this agribusiness icon. It was during this period whilst based at Moree that he gained experience with cotton and irrigation development.
Lynn Henry - Vice President
Lynn is currently a Lecturer in agricultural and resource economics at The University of Sydney, and coordinator of the Faculty of Agriculture's professional experience program. Prior to this Lynn worked at the NSW Department of Agriculture in a variety of positions in the economics division and in the Ministerial Advisory Unit. Lynn's research interests have focused on the marketing, policy and quantitative analysis of the agricultural and natural resource sectors. She has also worked on population issues, management of pest and disease management in Australia, and is currently working on a number of ACIAR funded projects in Indonesia, Tonga and Cambodia involving the horticultural and livestock industries. Lynn has been a Council Member of the Australian Agribusiness Association (1997 to present).
Frank Young - Treasurer
Bachelor of Applied Finance. Current role as Adelaide Branch Manager for Rabobank. Bachelor of Applied Finance from the University of South Australia. Lifetime background in hands on Agriculture and Agribusiness. Have served as AAA national council member since 2004. I am committed to agribusiness and believe it is important for there to be an organisation that deals across all sectors of the agribusiness value chain. Providing unbiased and credible knowledge, communication and linkages for all facets of agribusiness.
Brian Healey - Director
Brian Healey is a partner in Agribusiness at MacDonnells Law.He is a specialist agribusiness lawyer with expertise in rural and commercial property and real estate transactions. He has acted for some of Australia's largest corporate agribusinesses and family based primary producers in the beef, grain, cotton, forestry and other agricultural industries as well as for leading commercial property developers and investors. Brian is qualified to practice in Queensland, New South Wales and the Northern Territory and has acted in many large property transactions particularly in Queensland and New South Wales.His interest in acting for primary producers and agribusinesses stems from his experience as a lawyer working and travelling throughout these parts of Australia.
Russell Caird - Director
Russell has in excess of 20 years of working within agribusiness in Australia and New Zealand. Having established the boutique business consulting practice of Commercial & Strategic Solutions in 1997 continues to provide a wide range of advisory services predominantly to the agribusiness and energy sectors. Russell holds an Master of Business Administration (MBA) and is a Nationally Accredited Mediator holding a Practitioners Certificate in Mediation and is a member the Australian Institute of Arbitrators & Mediators (IAMA). He has advised and held various positions on Agribusiness related Company, Advisory Committees and Industry Boards providing him with relevant skills and experience to contribute positively to the Australian Agribusiness Association. He has served as a National Council member since 2004.
Geoff Lucas - Director
Diploma Farm Management Marcus Oldham College Member since 2000 part of the initial team to re establish the Australian Agribusiness Association Outside interests: Managing Director of The Lucas Group Pty Ltd Member of the Industry Standing Committee for the Primary Industry Skills Council of SA Member of the Agriculture Programme Advisory Group for Adelaide University Australian Institute of Company Directors Australian Human Resources Institute
Lucy Purcell - Director
Bachelor of Business Agricultural Commerce, University of Sydney, Orange 2003 University of Sydney, Orange, Campus. University of Sydney Student Association President 2002-03. Background is in agribusiness employment, horticulture, animal production, vineyards, wine marketing and the food service industry. She was awarded a university scholarship to visit China on an agricultural and agribusiness exchange in 2002 and has since been an active member in many state and national discussions regarding the direction of agribusiness and agriculture in Australia. She has served as an AAA board member since 2006 based in NSW
Mark Rodda - Director
Bachelor of Agricultural Business, Masters of Innovation and Service Management Mark worked for Elders Ltd for the past 12 years. During this time he has held various managerial roles within the Wool division and was General Manager of Elders Wool. Mark is board member of Australian Wool Handlers, Elders Primary Wool NZ, Elders Risk Management, the State Government's Wool Training Advisory Group and past Vice-President of the National Council of Wool Selling Brokers. He has served as a Director of the AAA since 2006.
Rod Miller - Director
Master of Business Administration Technology Management, Graduate Diploma of Management, Diploma of Directorship Australian Institute of Company Directors, Fellow Governors Leadership Foundation ( SA), Professional Wool classer certificate. Currently General Manager Group Operations for Rural Solutions SA Australia's largest Agribusiness and NRM Consultancy business working nationally and internationally across Government and private sectors. Chairman of State Flora, a retail and production nursery organization. Has 26 years prior experience with a large Agribusiness Corporation in several State and National executive positions, as well as International project delivery in SE Asia.
Travis Morgan - Director
Bachelor of Agricultural Science, University of Adelaide 2000. Born and raised on a mixed farm near Yongala, in South Australia’s Upper Mid north and involved with a family seed grading business, Travis has been working directly in the agribusiness sector for over 11 years. This involvement began as an agronomist within IAMA Agribusiness, then later with National Australia Bank in a number of finance, product and marketing management roles based in SA, NSW and VIC. In 2006, Travis joined Landmark in Melbourne, as a Financial Services Product & Marketing Manager and continuing with ANZ when they acquired the Landmark Financial Services business in March 2010. Member AAA and Director since 2007.
Dr Theresa Craig – Director
Owner/Consultant, Tara – Technical Assistance and Research Analysis Pty Ltd Theresa brings the perspective of Queensland primary industries that contributes $12.5 billion to the Queensland economy which, not including forestry and fisheries, is approximately 30.5 % of the national primary industries contribution. This contribution is driven by over 30,000 agribusinesses in Queensland. Theresa obtained a PhD in nutrition, and has international experience in operations, research, and management in both animal and human nutrition; and this background allows me to have a unique perspective over a broad area of agribusiness. In addition, my network allows me to assess a large diverse group of people in both business and academia that contribute to agriculture; my network would be a valuable asset to draw on for special events for the Agribusiness Association of Australia. She has completed Company Directors Course through the Australian Institute of Company Directors in November 2008. She is passionate that agriculture and the food industries need to attract the best and brightest, and that agribusiness needs to have a good profile in the public domain.
Simon Venus – Director
Simon Venus is a corporate and commercial lawyer and partner at national law firm Piper Alderman. He is head of the firm’s Agribusiness Practice Group. Having spent many years as a jackeroo and overseer on large pastoral station properties, he has developed a keen interest in agriculture. He utilises his drafting skills on a broad range of corporate and commercial transactions for major Australian corporations, Australian and international private clients, family enterprises and SMEs. He has been involved in many legal projects in the agribusiness sector, including agricultural asset acquisitions and divestments across Australia, business and share sales and acquisitions as well as equity capital raisings and due diligence investigations, soft commodity and horticultural supply contracts. Simon has completed a program on Agribusiness Cooperative Leadership and Governance with Monash University, and has chaired sessions on “Innovation in Agribusiness” at the annual Agri-food Forums held in Melbourne.
Charlie Blomfield – Director
Charlie Blomfield is the Managing Director of Agricultural Management Company (AMC). AMC specialises in the management of agricultural businesses and rural property in the livestock, cropping and horticulture sectors. Charlie has grass-roots operational experience with large scale beef operations, sheep enterprises and broadacre farming. He has held numerous station level positions throughout the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales. After working on various properties throughout NT, QLD and NSW, Charlie moved to Brisbane and began working with RMP in the Operations Team in 2004, at the time managing a portfolio of properties running up to 150,000 cattle. In 2007, Charlie left RMP and established Carthona specialising in consultancy and agricultural investment services to the institutional investor market. In 2007 Charlie undertook a project for the Northern Territory government to assess the development potential of the NT pastoral industry. The study included 12 stations, 40,000km2, and 140,000 cattle. Results from the study were presented at the 2008 International Rangelands Congress in Hohhot, China. Charlie has led a number of large projects including the development of large-scale irrigation projects using recycled water from Australian capital cities, development of large-scale beef funds, and property development projects of some of Australia’s largest pastoral holdings. Charlie is active with clients throughout the UK, Europe and the Middle East frequently visiting these locations for Business Development and Client Relations. Charlie is a regular speaker at Beef Producers’ and Agricultural Forums, and has presented the 2009 Agricultural Outlook Australia conference in Sydney, the 2010 World Grains Trade Summit in Singapore and the 2010 Largescale Farming in Africa conference in Egypt. Charlie has recently been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Australian Rural Press, the Financial Standard, and Money Magazine. Charlie maintains board level participation with the AgForce Queensland Cattle Board representing the Queensland cattle industry, and is a Director on the Board of the Agribusiness Association of Australia and the Future Farmers Network. Charlie has extensive on-ground experience across a number of production areas and commodities and maintains a strong network of industry professionals.
