Ballance makes key leadership appointments

Ballance makes key leadership appointments

Ballance Agri-Nutrients has announced the appointment of two general managers as well as appointments to new roles in strategy and agricultural technology.

Chief Executive Mark Wynne said the appointments were aligned with a revised focus for the co-operative on driving value for shareholders from its core fertiliser business, building the capability of its people, and making smarter use of data and technology to support better decision making both within the company and on the farm.

Jodi Tong joins the leadership team in the role of General Manager Customer Experience and Marketing.

Jodi is a talented marketer with more than 20 years of experience, including ten in the agribusiness sector with Zespri International, DairyNZ and more recently, the Southern Dairy Hub. Jodi has also held senior Marketing roles in the consumer goods industry with Lion Nathan, Nestlé and Reckitt & Colman. In her newly created role at Balance she will lead the Marketing, AgInformation, Customer Service and Research and Development portfolios. Jodi has a Bachelor of Management Studies (with Honours) from Waikato University.

Mr Wynne said Jodi’s extensive brand marketing experience in both the agribusiness and consumer sectors would be a significant asset to Ballance as it looks to increase its ability to add demonstrable value to its farmer shareholders.

Edith Sykes has been appointed as General Manager People and Capability, a promotion from her former role as Human Resources Manager.

Edith has extensive experience in human resources in the manufacturing, health and financial services industries across a diverse range of global and local organisations including Cadbury/Kraft Foods, SCA, Fletcher Forests, Tegel Foods (Heinz Watties), Bay Milk Products and Tower Corp. In her three years with Ballance she has led the building of a high performance culture, enhancing employee engagement levels and building leadership capability across the organisation. She holds a Bachelor of Business Studies from Massey University.

Mr Wynne said Edith was an outstanding choice in a very strong field of applicants for the role and it was especially pleasing to be able to recruit from within the co-operative for such a pivotal role.

Nathan Searle has been appointed to the new position of Strategy Manager, reporting to the Chief Executive.

Nathan comes to Ballance following more than 12 years’ experience as an internal strategic consultant within Fonterra in New Zealand and Australia. At Fonterra, Nathan has driven the optimisation of the Fonterra product portfolio, guided Fonterra’s asset footprint and capital spend, and driven hundreds of millions of dollars of performance improvements across the supply chain with operational excellence.

Mr Wynne said that Nathan’s experience as a senior strategy development leader with capability in building strategies for growth and driving performance will be of value as the co-operative looks to shape and implement new strategic initiatives across the business.

Hamish McKinlay takes on the new role of AgInformation Manager, in the Customer Experience and Marketing group.

Hamish has substantial product marketing experience in the telecommunications and banking markets including roles within Vodafone, Westpac and ASB, and a strong track record of driving business growth and product profitability targets. As leader of the AgInformation team he will be focused on developing innovative technology support for farmers. Hamish has a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration majoring in Finance and Management from Victoria University.

Mr Wynne said information technology was rapidly becoming an everyday tool for farmers and Hamish would lead Ballance’s further development of practical technical solutions, including Ballance’s online farm management system Ag Hub, for the dairy, red meat and cropping sectors.

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