Goodman Fielder chairman receives Rabobank Award

Goodman Fielder chairman receives 2007 Rabobank Leadership Award

Max Ould, chairman of leading food company Goodman Fielder, has been awarded the 2007 Rabobank Leadership Award in recognition of outstanding achievement in Australasian agribusiness.

Mr Ould was presented with the award in front of an audience of agribusiness industry leaders at the fourth annual Rabobank Leadership Dinner in Sydney last night.

Presenting the award, Rabobank Australia & New Zealand CEO Bruce Dick said Mr Ould had made an exceptional contribution to Australasian business over three decades at the helm of a number of leading food and agribusiness corporations.

“Max has been one of the most outstandingly successful food industry CEOs over the long haul in this country,” he said.

Mr Ould was managing director of National Foods Limited from 1996 to 2003 and formerly served as CEO of Peters Limited and executive chairman and managing director of East Asiatic Corporation/Plumrose.

He has been chairman of Goodman Fielder since November 2005 and also serves on the boards of Foster’s Group, Pacific Brands and AGL Energy.

“The food and agribusiness sector has been very fortunate indeed that an individual with Max’s skills and leadership qualities has chosen to devote three decades in serving its interests. His contribution to the companies he has led and the wider sector has been great and far-reaching,” Mr Dick said.

“Max’s skills and expertise in strategy, marketing, mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures – along with a strong commercial ‘savvy’ – have extracted excellent value for his shareholders and other stakeholders.

“As a leader, Max has been highly successful with his inclusive, contributory style. His open, energising and honourable approach has made him widely respected by his colleagues and throughout the business world.”

Mr Dick said, over the past 15 years, Max Ould had been a consistently successful leader in the dairy and meat industries and had been a key figure at national level in the broader food industry through the Australian Food & Grocery Council and the National Food Industry Council.

“In his 10 years as managing director of National Foods, Max oversaw strong growth in a large and highly competitive industry and made a large personal contribution to national dairy industry restructuring,” he said.

“In this role, Max’s achievements included delivering outstanding results for shareholders, with shares growing three-fold in value during his leadership, and ensuring the business retained the support of farmer suppliers throughout industry change.”

Mr Dick said Max Ould had made a seamless transition to a board career in recent years.

“In this role, he will undoubtedly continue to make an enormous contribution to Australasian agribusiness into the future,” he said.

Mr Ould accepted the award at the dinner held at the Art Gallery of NSW. Guests included the Ambassador of the Netherlands His Excellency Niek van Zutphen and the Consul-General of the Netherlands Margarita Bot.

Special guest speaker was the vice chairman of Cargill, USA Guillaume Bastiaens, who spoke about the future of biofuels and their impact on global agriculture.

Rabobank Australia & New Zealand is a part of the international Rabobank Group, the world’s leading specialist in food and agribusiness banking. Rabobank has more than 100 years’ experience providing customised banking and finance solutions to businesses involved in all aspects of food and agribusiness. Rabobank has a AAA credit rating and is rated one of the world’s safest bank by Global Finance magazine. Rabobank operates in 42 countries, servicing the needs of more than nine million clients worldwide through a network of more than 1500 offices and branches. Rabobank Australia & New Zealand is one of Australasia’s leading rural lenders and a significant provider of business and corporate banking and financial services to the region’s food and agribusiness sector. The bank has 75 branches throughout Australasia.

ends

© Scoop Media