Producer Executive Appointment Announced

19-Jun-2002

The Game Industry Board (GIB) announced the appointment of Tony Pearse as Producer Executive at a deer industry meeting in Southland last night.

This new position was created to give effect to the proposal for restructuring in the deer industry which will see the downsizing of the Deer Farmers’ Association (DFA) national Council in favour of a full time, professional Producer Executive to manage producer affairs within a single industry organisation, to be called Deer Industry New Zealand.

Mr Pearse has been involved with the deer industry, primarily as a research scientist with AgResearch Invermay, for many years. His experience with the deer industry also includes active deer farming interests, involvement with the Otago Branch of the DFA and, for the past year, as a member of the DFA’s national Council.

The Southland meeting was very supportive of the decision, said MJ Loza, GIB CEO, who also expects the appointment to be very popular with the wider deer industry. “Tony’s appointment really caps off what we believe is a very positive restructuring for the industry. Tony has a unique combination of deer farming and deer industry experience, technical expertise, political savvy and the real ability to get on with people at all levels of the industry. His ‘give it everything’ attitude and mix of skills mean he can very clearly add value to producers and he will be pivotal in assisting the integration of GIB programmes across all sectors.” said Loza.

The Game Industry Board was pleased with the very high quality of candidates that put themselves forward for the advertised position and described the recruitment process as exceptionally robust. “To make sure we were getting the right person for the right job the position description was developed in consultation with DFA Council and Branch Chairmen and we used an interview panel including senior, respected farmers for ‘grassroots’ feedback on candidates” said Mr Loza. Former DFA Presidents John Spiers and David Stevens, Hawke’s Bay Branch Chairman and Selection and Appointment Panel Chairman Tim Aitken and South Canterbury veterinarian Noel Beatson assisted with interviews conducted in Hamilton and Christchurch last week.

Mr Pearse will be based in Dunedin and will commence work with the Game Industry Board at the end of July.

70 farmers attended the meeting in Winton where the Game Industry Board Chairman and Executive staff gave presentations from the deer industry conference in Wellington last month. Further meetings repeating these presentations are planned in Timaru (19 June), Feilding (25 June) and Hamilton (26 June).