This section contains:
The Board of NRIA
Paul Miller
Paul Miller is the founding Chairman of New Rural Industries Australia. NRIA is an umbrella representative group for more than 27 new and emerging rural industries throughout Australia.
Since 2001 Paul has been President of the Australian Olive Association Ltd the industry body of that industry in Australia. Paul has led the development of the new Australian Extra Virgin branding and authentication campaign for Australian olive oil and plays an important role internationally being a founding member of the AOCS Expert Committee on olive oil and a founding member of the committee of the Olive Oil Division of Euro Fed Lipids.
Paul is currently employed by and has interests in several companies in the olive and wine grape industries. These include being a director and shareholder of RedIsland Australia Ltd, the producer of Red Island olive oil and manager of olive groves in central Victoria, as an olive industry specialist for two other companies and part-owning and managing a large-scale vineyard in central Victoria – Lake Marmal Vineyards. Paul owns and operates Paul Miller and Associates and Oilmiller Pty Ltd.
Paul comes from a farming background and is an agricultural scientist (La Trobe University 1977). In 1997 he completed a major study into the olive industry for local and State government in Victoria. In his early career Paul worked as a research scientist with the Victorian Department of Agriculture (until 1986). After 1986 Paul pursued his scientific career in Australia and overseas as well as undertaking consulting work across numerous intensive rural industries and developing business interests in intensive agriculture.
Ian Chivers
Ian Chivers has been involved with native grass seeds for in excess of 25 years. In that time he has bred grasses, researched into them, sown, managed and harvested crops and established Native Seeds P/L the largest seller of Australian native grasses. He continues to undertake research, often through projects developed in conjunction with Australian Universities, and leads the technical development of the native grass seed industry in Australia.
He is regular asked to speak at conferences that deal with native grasses and their applications and has written extensively on this topic. Some of his work has contributed to his Masters and PhD awards from Melbourne University.
He manages his own seed production enterprise based in South Gippsland, Victoria where he is converting a dairy farm into a seed production operation. In doing so he has to apply all the skills learnt over the past decades.
John Lever
John Lever has been working on wildlife management programmes since 1972. He established the first commercial crocodile farm in Queensland in 1981 and is a resourceful innovator in that new industry.
John has been an honorary consultant to the Crocodile Specialist Group of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature since 1975 but has also served on the Queensland Tourism Board as a Director, was Chair of Central Queensland TAFE, Chair of the regional tourism and development corporation (CTDO), the Rockhampton Area Consultative Committee and the Rockhampton branch of the Queensland Cancer Fund.
With a wealth of international experience, John is well positioned to help drive the development and growth of new rural industries in Australia. John’s business “Koorana” has won many awards for achievement, not the least of which was the National Telstra Small Business of the Year – 1992. John is currently Chair of the Queensland Crocodile Industry Group, a Director in his family business, Koorana, and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management.
Martha Shepherd
Martha Shepherd, with partner David Haviland, founded Galeru in 1997—a value added rural enterprise which produces a range of gourmet products from native rainforest fruits grown on their Cooroy Queensland property. Martha developed and implemented a value chain management model in which 4 grower partners formed Galeru Pty Ltd.
Martha has 35 year management experience in the food industry, in particular as Director of International Operations with Mrs Fields Famous Brands, managing the company’s international franchise network in 37 countries, as well as its new product research and development. Martha was the inaugural Australian national winner of the RIRDC Rural Women’s Award 2006, Innovator in Residence for the Centre for Rural & Regional Innovation Queensland in 2007, and Honorary Senior Fellow of the University of the Sunshine Coast Queensland in 2008 for her contributions to agri-business.
Martha is currently Chair, Australian Native Food Industry Ltd (ANFIL), the peak body for native foods in Australia, a Director of Galeru Pty Ltd, and holds a Diploma from the AICD Company Director’s Course.
Patricia Bolster
Patricia Bolster is a tea tree oil producer based in the Tweed Valley in northern NSW. She and her husband have been producing tea tree oil since 1993 and have dedicated their business life to product development and research of this amazing essential oil. Pat has been an active member of the board of the industry association since 1994 and is a member of the RIRDC tea tree advisory committee. Pat has 17 years experience in regulatory affairs involving tea tree oil and essential oils generally, building on her prior knowledge and experience as a commercial lawyer.
Allan Cooney
Allan Cooney is executive director of Centrefarm Aboriginal Horticulture Limited, a not-for-profit company which develops economic projects on Aboriginal Land. The Centrefarm core business acts as front-end project managers on behalf of indigenous aspirants. Centrefarm also includes a national consulting business specialising in remote economic development. Allan has extensive experience managing a large-scale argi-business operation. He was a partner and CEO for his family company, Belyanna Pastoral Company that operated Turn Turn/Wittenburra and Padua Park/Ellangowan aggregations. The enterprise ran sheep, a high performance stud flock and a large cattle herd. He sold the pastoral business in 2000 and spent some time managing the family investments as well as day trading on the derivatives market in Australian shares. During this time he made the decision to be more of a contributor to our society and developed a consulting business advising indigenous and social welfare organisations on commercial management. He was approached to apply these skills to an SME seeking to commercialise IP around some breakthrough genetic science and spent time travelling widely in Australia and South America developing business and business systems for the client group. He was a founding committee member and ultimately Chairperson for a not-for- profit regional organisation (South West Queensland Financial Counselling Service) addressing and assisting people adjust to rapid and often painful social and economic change that was part of the Western Queensland landscape during the nineties. Allan was a founding member of Executive Link, a national organisation of farm managers and executives focused on a sustainable future for Australian farm business and innovation. He is an accomplished artist, proud father of five daughters and reluctant renovator.
Sonya Marley
Sonia Maley is managing director of Resis Australia, a technology-based company creating new products from sugar cane.