Zespri Board Chairman Bruce Cameron will step down in February 2024 after five years in the role and will retire as a Director of Zespri at the company’s next Annual Meeting in August 2024.
Cameron has been on the Zespri Board of Directors since 2010, moving into the Chairman’s role in February 2019. The Zespri Board has unanimously elected grower-director Nathan Flowerday as Chairman-Elect, who will take over as Chairman following next February’s Board Meeting. Flowerday has been involved in the kiwifruit industry for more than 25 years and has been a Director of Zespri since 2012. He’s also a Director of the Kiwifruit Breeding Centre – a joint venture between Zespri and Plant & Food Research.
CEO Dan Mathieson says on behalf of Zespri he’d like to thank Cameron: “Bruce joined the Board just before Psa hit and his leadership in responding to that challenge and the many we have faced since has helped deliver some outstanding results for growers. Bruce has overseen a number of key strategic decisions Zespri has made in recent years to create sustainable long-term value for the industry. This has included the expansion of our innovation work and the growth of SunGold Kiwifruit, the focus on securing world-leading market-based talent to enhance our local sales and marketing programmes so that we can secure more value, and modernising Zespri’s digital infrastructure and platforms through the Horizon Programme."
“I also want to congratulate Nathan on his appointment and look forward to working closely with him to address the important challenges and opportunities in front of us to maximise the value we return to growers in the years ahead.”
Reflecting on his time as a Director and on his Chairmanship, Cameron says, “I’ve long maintained that it’s not just enough having great fruit on the vines. You also need to have great people to move it, store it and sell it. The fantastic people within our industry will continue to drive our success, and I’ve appreciated the many discussions I’ve had with growers and industry colleagues who have shared when we’ve got things right and when we haven’t."
Chairman-Elect Nathan Flowerday, “It’s a real privilege to have the support of the Board to take on the role of Chairman next year and I want to thank Bruce for the immense contribution he’s made to our industry. Zespri is an organisation created by New Zealand growers for New Zealand growers, and keeping growers at the centre of our decision-making will continue to be our focus. We have an industry structure that provides a strong platform from which to maximise the value we’re returning to growers and I look forward to continuing our work to do that," Mr Flowerday says.
For more information:
Anna Cross
Zespri
Tel: +64 27 316 7777
Email: [email protected]
www.zespri.com