Andrew Spencer

Chair

Andrew is an experienced senior executive and company director. He finished up a fourteen year stretch as the Chief Executive Officer of Australian Pork Limited in August of 2019 and holds a number of directorships including Australian Farm Institute (Chair), Sheep Producers Australia (Chair), Red Meat Advisory Council, Grains Research and Development Corporation and PorkScan Pty. Ltd. Andrew’s career as a senior executive of diverse agriculture/ agribusiness organisations, spans more than 30 years in four countries. 

Dr Elizabeth Jackson

Director

With a first-class Honours degree in Agribusiness Marketing and a Master of Business Administration, Elizabeth has held various management positions at the CBH Group and in other Western Australian agribusinesses.

In 2008, Elizabeth completed an ARC-Linkage PhD studentship to study for the WA wool industry. She then worked at Newcastle University (UK) where she was the Degree Programme Director of the BSc Agribusiness Management degree and published on food marketing, supply chain management and maritime economics. In 2014, Elizabeth moved to the University of London’s Royal Veterinary College where she became a Senior Lecturer in Business Management and published on agribusiness and food supply chains. She was the Course Director for the College’s Professional Doctorate degrees in agribusiness and veterinary practice.

Elizabeth is now a Senior Lecturer within Curtin Business School where her teaching relates to supply chain management, procurement and distribution and she continues to investigate agri-food systems.

Andrew Henderson

Director

Andrew Henderson is a leading strategic policy specialist with a passion for building the sustainability and prosperity of rural and regional Australia and enhancing the recognition of its role in the economy and its place in national security. Andrew is an experienced independent chair and member of several national policy and implementation committees focused on traceability and biosecurity systems, research and development, service delivery, food safety and regulatory systems.

Andrew has been heavily involved in developing and advocating for policy to reform Australia’s red meat and livestock integrity systems which has seen the adoption of transformational reform by industry, jurisdictions, and the Commonwealth government. Andrew has also advised the Commonwealth government on biosecurity, red meat and livestock, Northern Australian development, and climate change.

As the Principal of Agsecure, Andrew’s mission is to support industry and government to understand each other and work better together for the benefit of the nation. Andrew works across private enterprise, industry, not-for-profits, and governments and is a published author on biosecurity, food security, national security, agricultural supply chains and other matters of national interest.

Ben Thomas

Director

Ben is a Portfolio Manager with Growth Farms Australia, where he is responsible for managing a suite of farms across southern NSW and Victoria. His entire career has been dedicated to the agricultural industry, beginning as a Jackaroo with Twynam Pastoral Co, before leading Meat and Livestock Australia’s Market Information Team.

He then spent five years in Agri-finance with Rabobank prior to taking on his current role. Ben has experience in both commercial and Not-for-Profit sectors and has a keen interest in working to achieve broader industry outcomes. He has attained a Bachelor of Rural Science (UNE) and Master of Agribusiness (University of Melbourne), volunteered on the Australian Intercollegiate Meat Judging Association Committee, and became a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors course in 2022.

Kerry Harris FCPA GAICD

Non-executive Independent Director

Kerry has a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Accounting and Marketing from Curtin University, is a Fellow of CPA Australia and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.  She has had an extensive executive career as a Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer in member based organisations.

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Kerry is an experienced, independent non-executive director with expertise in finance, audit, risk and compliance.  She has a strong focus on corporate governance including financial and non-financial external reporting to include strategy and risk management, ESG and aligning performance management with strategy. Currently Kerry chairs Women Onside, a member and advocacy organisation, is a non executive director with Volunteering Australia and chairs the Finance and Audit Committee, and is on the Veterinary Registration Board of Victoria, CPA Australia Nominations Committee and is a CPA Australia Victorian Divisional Councillor. Kerry is the founder of Focus Consultants, a boutique consultancy specialising in business system design and digital transformation.
 

Jamie Heinrich

Director

Jamie grew up on his family’s 980-hectare sheep property Ella Matta Pastoral on Kangaroo Island and is a 7th generation South Australian sheep farmer. He completed a degree in International Business at the University of South Australia, followed by three years working at one of Australia’s biggest meat processors, Thomas Foods International, in the meat export and livestock departments. Since 2014 he has been a joint owner and manager of his family property.

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The Heinrichs operate the world’s oldest White Suffolk stud, a Poll Merino and Maternal Composite seedstock operation, as well as a commercial 17-micron Poll Merino flock. He is the Chair of Agriculture Kangaroo Island, and is on the boards of Sheep Producers Australia, 28 National and the Sheep Sustainability Framework. He is on the Meat and Livestock Australia Board Selection Committee and was formerly on the board of Livestock SA.

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Jamie completed a 2017 Nuffield Scholarship studying ‘Attracting and retaining young people in the sheep industry’ which took him to 17 countries in 20 weeks. In late 2014, he was the Youth Ambassador for the Sheepmeat Council of Australia and has attended five American Sheep Industry Conferences / Washington DC delegations on behalf of the industry.

Bindi Murray

Director

Bindi is a commercial sheep producer at Woodanilling, Western Australia, running about 6500 Merino ewes as part of the wool enterprise and 2000 Merino ewes mated to terminal sires. The enterprise provides to local processors as well as the live export market, and works constructively to improve through strong relationships and developing knowledge of the supply chain as a whole.

Bindi’s belief that science is at the heart of agriculture led her to complete a Bachelor of Animal Science, where she focused her Honours thesis on the link between high wool production and meat quality. She has also been a research officer for breech-strike trial projects, and now a regular host of producer trials and technical updates.

Bindi is a Board Director of the WA Meat Industry Authority Board. Her involvement in advocacy has been an important aspect of Bindi’s career. She has held roles as a policy director, Pastoralists and Graziers Association Committee Member and involvement in national policy issues, such as traceability.

In undertaking these roles Bindi has also built business development skills through small business management studies. She has completed the SCA Governance in Action course, the Company Directors Course run by the Australian Institute of Company Directors and is currently undertaking the Rabobank Executive Leaders program.