Meat & Wool New Zealand names new CEO

Media Release

3 September 2008

Meat & Wool New Zealand names new CEO

Meat & Wool New Zealand Chairman, Mike Petersen has announced the appointment of Dr Scott Champion as the organisation’s new Chief Executive Officer.

Dr Champion is currently the General Manager Market Access and Services with Meat & Wool New Zealand, a role he has been in for the past two and a half years. He will take over the new position on Monday 29 September.

Mr Petersen said he was delighted to announce Scott’s appointment.

“Scott has significant knowledge and experience of industry issues and as the leader of the Market Access and Services team, he has shown us an energy for building important industry relationships that deliver benefits for sheep and beef farmers and the wider industry.

“Scott has led the development of our beef and sheepmeat marketing programmes and the market access work that contributed to improved access for meat and wool products through the China Free Trade Agreement (FTA) plus the recently announced ASEAN-Australia New Zealand FTA.  This is alongside the range of technical issues work that helps protect our beef, and sheepmeat trade and the wool industry.

“Scott has also led a re-focusing of our North Asia beef programmes which now clearly differentiate New Zealand grass-fed beef. He has helped facilitate the growth of commercial industry investment alongside Meat & Wool New Zealand through new joint venture programmes for lamb in North America and beef in North Asia.”

Before joining Meat & Wool New Zealand, Dr Champion was the Research Development and Product Innovation Manager for the New Zealand Merino Company, based in Christchurch. Prior to that he was a lecturer in animal production and related subjects at the School of Agricultural Science, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia. Scott’s s PHD thesis looked at sheep nutrition and its impact on wool growth.

Dr Champion said he was looking forward to the new role.

“This is a time of significant change for the sector and while it’s pleasing to see stronger prices feeding back to farmers, we must use this window to generate better long-term returns for sheep and beef farmers.”

Dr Champion said he was committed to ensuring Meat & Wool New Zealand played its role in making sure the sheep and beef sector contributed maximum value to the New Zealand economy.

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