AACo's leaders are skilled and passionate about our industry. Each are required to hold themselves accountable for contributing to the success of the Company, to make safety and our people a priority and to work with integrity.
Board of Directors
Donald McGauchie was appointed an Independent Director of the AACo Board with effect from 19 May 2010.
Donald has held a wide range of non-executive Director
positions, including as a director and Chairman of Telstra
Corporation Limited, President of the National Farmers Federation,
and Director of National Foods Limited.
His current roles include Director of the Reserve Bank of
Australia, Director of Graincorp Limited, Director of Nufarm
Limited and Director of James Hardie Industries S.E.
David joined AACo as Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer in December 2009 and sits on all AACo Board Committees by invitation.
He is also the Principal and Executive Chairman of Matrix Commodities.
Prior to joining AACo, Mr Farley was an independent Non-Executive Director of Tandou Limited and Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Colly Cotton Limited for a period of 16 years.
Mr Farley has also held the role of Chief Executive Officer and
President of Calcot (based in California, USA), as chairman of
Rural Industries Research & Development Corporation, and is a
former Director of Wool International.
Mr Paliulis is the Commodity Risk Director of the IFFCO Poultry Co Limited (IFFCO) group of companies.
Mr Paliulis is a graduate of Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts. He has over 35 years of rich and varied experience, including marketing, trading and hedging in various cash and futures markets, as well as experience in the global trading of grains, oilseeds and feedstuffs and in devising risk management strategies for several organisations including Cargill Inc (USA), Louis Dreyfus Corporation (USA and France), Woodhouse, Drake & Carey (UK) and Emirates Grain Products Co LLC (UAE).
In addition to being a director of IFFCO, Mr Paliulis is also a director of Robusto Agro Invest, a farm leasing and management company in Ukraine.
Dato' is the current Group President/Chief Executive Officer of Felda Global Ventures Holdings and Felda Holdings Berhad, the parent company of all the commercial entities of Felda.
He holds BSc (Hons) Agricultural from University of Malaya and MSc in Agricultural Economics from University of London. He also pursued Advanced Diploma in International Studies from University of Rhode Island and Advanced Diploma in Management from University of Oxford.
Previously, he was the Chairman of Malaysian Palm Oil Board, a premier government agency under the purview of the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities which is entrusted to develop the oil palm industry in Malaysia. Prior to this, he had also served as the Chief Executive Officer of Golden Hope Plantations Berhad. Under his leadership, Golden Hope Plantations Berhad has been various awards including the Best Under A Billion Company in Asia-Pacific by Forbes International and the Most Caring Employer Award (Large Corporation) by the Ministry of Human Resources.
He had also held several key positions at Golden Hope Plantations Berhad such as Group Director of Agro-Business, Group Director of Agri-Business and Group Director of Overseas Marketing. Dato' Sabri Ahmad had also experienced serving companies such as Harrisons Malaysia Plantations Berhad, Fisheries Development Authority (MAJUIKAN) and Ministry of Agriculture. Additionally, he is also the member of Policy Advisory Committee of MPOB and Vice President of Business Council of Sustainable Development Malaysia.
Stuart is Managing Partner of Chapman Eastway chartered accountants. He is a current non-executive director of leading geophysical consultants Coffey International Limited, and a former president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.
He is the funding Chair and a current Board Member of the Accounting Professional and Ethical Standards Board.
David is the immediate past President of the National Farmers Federation and a commissioner on the Australia Centre for International Agricultural Research.
He was a founding partner and current non-executive director of GRM International and is a former chairman of Meat and Livestock Australia and a former director of Grainco Australia and the Meat Industry Council.
Mr Crombie operates family properties, breeding cattle and farming in southern Queensland.
Tom is the former Managing Director of Graincorp Limited, where he established the company as a listed entity.
He is the current chairman of Grain Trade Australia, and a director of Cotton Seed Distributors and Midway Limited.
Shehan is a senior Managing Director and member of the Board of Directors of the Tavistock Group, a privately held investment company. He has responsibility for portfolio strategy across 200 companies in 15 countries, and is CEO of Tavistock Life Sciences, an operating unit of the Tavistock Group.
Before joining Tavistock Group in 2002, Shehan was a Managing Partner of Arthur Andersen with responsibility for strategy and business planning for the global legal, tax and HR Consulting Divisions of the firm, encompassing 1,600 partners and 15,000 professionals.
Earlier in his career, Shehan was involved in the medical research and technology industries. He holds a Ph.D. in Pharmacological and Physiological Sciences from The University of Chicago.
Leadership Team
David joined AACo as Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer in December 2009 and sits on all AACo Board Committees by invitation.
He is also the Principal and Executive Chairman of Matrix Commodities.
Prior to join AACo, Mr Farley was an independent Non-Executive Director of Tandou Limited and Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Colly Cotton Limited for a period of 16 years.
Mr Farley has also held the role of Chief Executive Officer and
President of Calcot (based in California, USA), as chairman of
Rural Industries Research & Development Corporation, and is a
former Director of Wool International.
Craig White is the Chief Financial Officer of AACo and was previously the Chief Financial Officer of Billabong International Limited. Prior to joining Billabong, Craig was the Division Finance Director, South Pacific and Korea Division, for The Coca-Cola Company.
Previous positions held by Craig include Region Finance Director, Indonesia, for The Coca-Cola Company, business planning and reporting roles with Coca-Cola Amatil Limited, a business audit management position with CSR Limited and senior corporate finance management positions with Price Waterhouse in Sydney and Paris.
Craig is a chartered accountant and holds an MBA from Deakin University in Australia and a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and Accounting from Southampton University in England.
Bruce was appointed Company Secretary and Legal Counsel of AACo in 2006. Before joining AACo, he was a partner in a leading law firm, specialising in company and property law, mergers and acquisitions and other commercial contracts.
Bruce has over 18 years experience in legal practice, having practiced in both Queensland and New South Wales. Bruce is an associate member of the Chartered Secretaries of Australia.
Troy joined AACo in the role of Chief Operating Officer in May
2010.
He is also a Director on the Australian Live Export Council
Board.
Troy has held the position of chairman of the Australian Beef Industry Foundation and has held various industry directorships and leadership positions.
Prior to AACo, Troy held leadership positions in the production, logistics, marketing and export of grain and grass fed beef, live cattle, cropping, sheep, services and other agricultural industries.
Among these were key roles as Manager of the North Australian Cattle Company for Elders Limited, Manager of Elders shipping business, Torrens Investments Pty Ltd, and Director of Killara Feedlot Pty Ltd.
Pat joined AACo as the Managing Director and Partner of the Chefs Partner business in April 2002 and was appointed as General Manager Beef Group in 2006.
Pat has over 35 years experience in the meat industry, possessing a sound practical knowledge from producer through to customer. Pat has a strong focus in the area of production and marketing of beef products.
His career has encompassed senior roles with Woolworths Supermarkets and Australia Meat Holdings in the fields of procurement, processing, marketing and retailing.
Stewart joined AACo in the role of General Manager - Northern Australian Beef Ltd in May 2011.
Stewart manages AACo's Darwin Beef Processing Facility Project, where he is responsible for development permits, concept and detailed design, tender process and construction and commissioning. Stewart also manages the on-going operational aspects of the project including cattle procurement, processing, compliance, recruitment, employment and training, marketing, logistics and financial performance.
Prior to joining AACo, he worked in the New Zealand Meat Industry for 33 years, and within this time managed six Meat Processing Plants in New Zealand, which included the total rebuild of a beef processing facility, while also spending two and a half year's overseeing the construction of a Beef Processing Facility in the city of Chengdu in China.
Greg joined AACo in April 2010 as the General Manager of People and Culture.
Reporting to the CEO & Managing Director, Greg manages a team of Human Resources and Workplace Health & Safety professionals. The team delivers best-practice people solutions, leads cultural change and enhances safety and wellbeing across the group.
Greg has over 18 years experience in Human Resources across a variety of industries including funds management, transport, education, IT and FMCG. He has a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Psychology from the University of Melbourne and Post-Graduate Diploma in organisational Psychology. He is also a Chartered member of the Australian Human Resources Institute.
Michael joined AACo in early 2011 as Commercial Manager.
Most recently, Michael was Group Company Secretary and General Counsel for a listed Funds Management company and prior to that Counsel at Credit Suisse, in Sydney. He worked in private practice as a solicitor for many years before moving into Banking and Funds management in 2007.
He was the solicitor on numerous floats, including Colly Cotton in 1984.
Michael has a degree in Law from Sydney University, is a member of the Risk Management Institute of Australasia, and founded the Australian branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators of the UK.
Stuart joined AACo as Chief Risk Officer in February 2011 and is primarily responsible for the operation of AACo's Enterprise Risk framework. He is responsible for the establishment and risk oversight of the Commodity Desk and provides support and assurance to the Board Risk Management Committee.
Stuart has over five years experience in risk management and
prior to joining AACo was a consultant with MSCI/RiskMetrics.
He has worked in financial services and
portfolio risk management in New York, Melbourne and Sydney and
has a Bachelor
of Arts degree from Brown University.
Ben joined AACo in January 2012 and works closely with all business units to drive innovation, integration of technology and broad productivity gains.
Prior to joining AACo Ben provided business strategy advisory for venture capital and technology start-ups. He has been Marketing Manager of Gowing Bros Ltd and has grown global businesses as a founder, senior executive and leader.
His experience centres around business strategy, online and leveraging technology for innovation and productivity gains in industries including agriculture, retail, manufacturing and intellectual property marketing.
Operations Team
Greg joined AACo in December 2002, when AACo purchased Aronui Feedlot. In 2005 he was appointed Group Manager, Breeding Operations and in 2009 was appointed to his current role of General Manager South East Queensland, Wagyu and Feedlots.
Prior
to joining AACo, Greg worked at and managed Aronui Feedlot for 15
years and has a wealth of experience in feedlotting and Wagyu
breeding, performance and evaluation.
Greg
has been a Councillor for three years with ALFA and presently
sits on the board of the Australian Wagyu Association.
Henry first joined AACo in 1985, with his current role being General Manager, Pastoral, where he is responsible for overseeing the company's Barkly, Victoria River District and Darwin stations.
Henry is passionate about the beef industry and the people who
work in it, having worked on cattle properties throughout his
career. Prior roles during his 21 at AACo have included Stockman,
Headstockman, Manager and Regional manager across a number of
AACo's stations including Canobie, Wondoola, Headingly, Wrotham
Park (formerly owned by AACo) and
Brunette Downs.
Henry is an executive of the Northern Territory Cattlemen's Association.
Michael Spencer joined AACo in mid-2010 as General Manager - Queensland. In this role he is responsible for the breeding and backgrounding stations in the Gulf Region, grass fattening enterprises in the channel country and managing AACo's external grass sales program and cattle purchases. Michael also manages AACo's Breeder Alliance and calf buyback programs.
Prior roles include 15 years at Elders as Key Account Manager, Branch Manager and Senior Livestock Salesman. Michael was also Operations Manager for a period of four years for Norland Pastoral Company, a NSW, QLD and NT based family business that produced Commercial and Stud Cattle as well as cotton, cereal grains and soya beans.
In January 2009, Ross took on a consulting position with AACo to assess the existing farming assets within the company. In October 2010 he was appointed to Group Farming manager.
Ross has had a long and productive career in the Agricultural sector both nationally and abroad for more than 30 years. Having commenced his career as a Jackeroo, Ross has worked across a broad range of cropping and grazing enterprises.
Previous roles also included Irrigation and Development Manager with Colly Farms before moving into the role of Marketing Manager. Ross also ran his own farming venture for around 18 years.