ADF Board

As the primary governance body of Australian Dairy Farmers (ADF), the Board’s principle responsibility is to oversee, approve and monitor the strategic direction of the organisation.

Seeking strategy direction from the National Council – ADF’s state representative body – and ADF’s Policy Advisory Groups (PAGs), the Board ensures activities undertaken by ADF meet the shared national priorities of dairy farmers across Australia, and the views of key stakeholder groups are taken into account.

The ADF Board plays a crucial role in electing the President and National Council members, and selecting the ADF Independent Director and the Chair of each PAG. The Board is also responsible for monitoring the integrity of financial reporting, overseeing risk management and legal compliance, and providing guardianship of corporate values.

Ben Bennett

President

Ben Bennett has worked in dairy farming in south-west Victoria for 16 years and he has experience in low-cost, lucerne-based pasture and domestic seasonal calving.

Prior to his work in the dairy sector, Ben worked for 13 years in the meat processing industry. In this role he managed everything from procurement to processing and international marketing exposure and has experience with costings modeling. Ben began his career on the floor with roles that ranged from labouring to quality control and technical project management. He then moved to the line and gained experience in executive management and whole of business consulting.

He has a graduate diploma in agriculture and a degree in biotechnology and bioprocess engineering.

Heath Cook

Director

Heath was elected to the Australian Dairy Farmers Board of Directors in 2021 for his passion towards creating a profitable and sustainable dairy industry.

Heath entered the dairy industry 17 years ago following his career as Process Superintendent of then Australia’s largest goldmine. He purchased in the picturesque hills of Dorrigo and established Misery Mountain Dairy, which currently milks 350 cows. As an advocate for youth in dairy, he is proud to have recently adopted a share farming model with a young local family.

Throughout his career, Heath has sat on numerous boards and committees which has given him critical insight into good governance. He has strived to further his understanding and representation since entering the dairy industry.

Rick Gladigau

Director

Rick Gladigau grew up on his family’s dairy farm and was employed there as a farmhand upon leaving school. Rick has broad experience, having worked on a potato farm and as a dairy share farmer, and trained in Canada as part of an agricultural exchange program before returning to manage his family’s dairy farm.

He was a ward representative for Australian Co-operative Foods and a member of the Dairy Farmers Milk Co-operative (DFMC) Board of Directors from 2013 to 2016. Rick was a Board Member of the South Australian Dairyfarmers’ Association (SADA) from 2007 to 2021, serving as Treasurer for the last four years.

Rick is passionate about the dairy industry, which has helped him gain experience in industry leadership, governance, and negotiation.

David Beca

Independent Director

David has over 30 years experience acting as a non-executive or executive director in small, medium and large agricultural businesses, including in a cooperative dairy processing business and a publicly listed dairy farming business.  He has hands-on practical farming experience in dairy, beef, and sheep production, and corporate management experience in dairy, beef, and crop production.  David also has experience in agribusiness software development and marketing, on-farm and business consultancy, and animal feed procurement and sales.  He has completed a range of benchmarking projects in Australia and published papers on farm production systems and business profitability.

In addition to his experience of working in a number of states in Australia, David has also been in leadership positions or overseen agribusiness operations in New Zealand, Uruguay, Chile, Romania, Poland, and Russia.  His particular area of interest is the identification of key drivers of business performance and the development of merit-based organisational culture.

Matthew Trace

Director
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