National Farmers Federation (NFF) and Armidale based Agricultural Business Research Institute (ABRI) are both looking for new leadership.
NFF CEO Troy Williams has tendered his resignation as CEO of the peak farming body after just four months in the role for “personal reasons”.
Williams resignation is effective immediately. In a statement from NFF President David Jochinke released this morning, the board thanked Mr Williams for his contribution and wish him the very best for the future.
“The Board will commence recruitment for the new CEO, mindful of the NFF AGM in October. In the meantime, we will appoint an interim CEO to ensure leadership and operational continuity.”
“While leadership transitions are significant, I am proud of our experienced and committed team. It’s business as usual in our work for members and the agricultural sector.”
It is not, however, business as usual for NFF, with a ‘once in a generation’ reform to modernise the Federation’s governance, membership structure, and policy advocacy model currently underway. The process is well in hand, with a discussion paper released in May of this year. The NFF Reform Roadmap – United Advocacy Stronger Outcomes framework builds on extensive feedback from NFF members, recent external reviews, and the Australian Farm Institute’s (AFI) report The Evolution of Agricultural Advocacy, and is expected to be presented to the AGM in October for ratification.
Then the hard work begins of implementing the reform.
The organisation has been facing a period of high instability, with Victorian Farmers Federation notifying the peak body last September of their intention to quit, and NSW Farmers warning in April they may do the same. The organisation was also subjected to harsh criticism for its performance in the election campaign.
Williams was considered by some in the industry as an “odd choice” for the role, having most recently been in tertiary education and before that a health industry body, and did not appear to come to the role with a wealth of established relationships in farming or agripolitics.
Adelaide Executive Search firm Morton Phillips, a specialist firm that often recruits for roles at the c-suite level but is not well known for agricultural recruitment, managed the recruitment for the role. It is understood that a number of well qualified candidates who are well known in Australian agriculture applied for the role, and did not get an interview. Staff advised that the Managing Director, Phil Morton, was not available for comment as he is travelling overseas.
NFF was unable to advise if they were going to use the same recruitment firm, or review some of the rejected applicants, saying “we’re still working through this”.
The consensus of a number of industry figures contacted by New England Times today is that main skill needed for success in what is arguably the most important executive role in the sector revolved around being able to form and manage extensive personal relationships – but it helps a lot if they understand farming.
One ag organisation that is on the other side of a significant reform process and also announcing a leadership change today, is UNE based Agricultural Business Research Institute (ABRI), with chair Angela Schuster announcing they have commenced a global recruitment process for a new Managing Director.
Current Managing Director Anita Kauffmann’s contract ends towards the end of 2025.
“In August 2024 the ABRI Board commenced a journey to transform ABRI into a commercially focused company more closely aligned to our customers and able to deliver on stakeholder expectations,” Ms Schuster said.
“The Board appointed Anita Kauffmann as Managing Director with a brief to implement the short-term objectives in the Board’s 2025-2030 Strategic Plan and kick-start the change ABRI needed.
“Anita has performed exceptionally well as a transformational leader,” Kauffmann said.
With the end of Ms Kauffmann’s contract approaching and the successful achievement of the Board’s short-term priorities, Anita will now support the Board in beginning the process to secure a new Managing Director, who will take the next steps in the transformation of ABRI.
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