New chair role established for Sheep Producers Australia

22 November 2018

Independent board director Chris Mirams has been elected as Chair of Sheep Producers Australia at a board meeting in Canberra yesterday

Mr Mirams has 30 years’ experience in farm management, including managing iconic grazing property Woomargama Station for 20 years and chairing national sheep farming systems research project EverGraze for eight years.

He has served in senior governance roles in a range of organisations including Meat & Livestock Australia, MLA Donor Company and Integrity Systems Company. He is part of the Graham Centre Industry Advisory Panel in NSW, providing advice to the board, and spent nine years as a director of the Holbrook Landcare Network.

He brings knowledge in governance, finance, sheep production systems, research and the application of new technologies on-farm to combine with his leadership and organisational development skills.

SPA Chief Executive Officer Graham Smith said he was looking forward to working with Mr Mirams, given his extensive experience in the industry and commitment to its ongoing development.

Mr Smith said the board had decided it was time to merge the President and Chair roles, given SPA had experienced one year in the new structure.

“Part of the transition arrangements from Sheepmeat Council of Australia to Sheep Producers Australia was creation of two roles – an Independent Chair with the primary focus of establishing good governance practices within the new organisation, as well as the traditional industry-facing President role,” he said.

“Once the transition arrangements were complete, it had been agreed that the roles would be combined to the single role of Chair, with the responsibilities reflecting the change in 2017 for SPA to become a company limited by guarantee.”

Mr Mirams said he was looking forward to the role and working on the industry’s challenges and opportunities.

“I’m looking forward to working with our members, the state farming organisations, and producers in developing our strategic plan in 2019. We have a fantastic CEO, skills-based board, hard working employees and solid relationships with industry service providers to ensure we are effective advocates for producers across Australia.”