Dairy Australia members have elected four directors at the 2023 Annual General Meeting and the Board reappointed James Mann as Chair for a fourth year.
There were four vacancies for the Dairy Australia Board.
Two of the four vacant positions were for directors with milk producer skills, one for a director with agribusiness, innovation and adoption skills, and another for a director with dairy supply chain and product promotion skills.
The directors elected at the AGM are Paul Bennett (agribusiness, innovation and adoption skills), Paul van Heerwaarden (dairy supply chain and product promotion skills), Kären Moroney (milk producer skills) and Paul Roderick (milk producer skills).
Mr Mann addressed the hybrid meeting from Moama, New South Wales and congratulated the new directors on their appointments.
“Congratulations to our new directors Paul Bennett and Kären Moroney and welcome back to Paul Roderick and Paul van Heerwaarden,” he said.
“Also, a sincere thanks to retiring directors Roseanne Healy and Tania Luckin – you both contributed a great deal to the strategic direction of our industry over many years. I’m also very grateful to Tania for her dedication while deputy chair,” Mr Mann said.
Paul Bennett is from Tasmania and is Chair of family owned and award winning Ashgrove Cheese. He was previously the Chair of DairyTas, is a dairy and beef farmer and is involved in many community and youth organisations.
Paul van Heerwaarden’s family farming background led him to a career path in agribusiness including six years as CEO of Bega Cheese Ltd. He has served on a number of company and joint venture boards including for several years as a member director of Dairy Innovation Australia Ltd.
Kären Moroney is a farmer from Eskdale in North-east Victoria and is a former Chair of Murray Dairy. She is also a director of AgBiz Assist, a rural financial counselling service and President of the Mitta Valley Landcare Group.
First appointed to the Dairy Australia Board in November 2020, Paul Roderick has operated his family dairy farm at Harrisville, South-east Queensland for the last 30 years.
He was previously Chair of Subtropical Dairy and had a role in setting up the Young Dairy Network in Queensland.
This year’s AGM was held online and in Moama, New South Wales.
A recording of the event including the results of the AGM and the presentations by the Chair and Managing Director are available on the Dairy Australia website https://www.dairyaustralia.com.au/agm.
