Board Members

The GRDC Board is accountable to Australia's grain growers, through the industry peak organisation, the Grains Council of Australia, and to the Commonwealth Parliament, through the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

The GRDC Board has nine Directors. The Chairman is selected and appointed by the Minister. Seven of the Corporation's Directors are nominated by a committee selected by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry on advice from the Grains Council of Australia. Appointment of Directors nominated through this mechanism is subject to Ministerial approval. The Minister appointed seven Directors with effect from 11 November 2008.

With the exception of the Managing Director, GRDC Directors are appointed for terms of up to three years.

The Managing Director is appointed by the Board of the Corporation. The Managing Director is the sole Executive Director and holds office at the Corporation's pleasure.

Prior to 28 May 2007 there was also a Government Director, appointed by the Minister. The Government Director position was abolished by changes to the PIERD Act which took effect on 28 May 2007. 

The Board has two committees:
• the Finance, Risk and Audit Committee, which assists the Board in fulfilling its corporate governance activities; and
• the Remuneration Committee, which reviews and makes recommendations to the Board on matters relating to the remuneration and performance of the Managing Director. 

The new Board will appoint members of its committees following its first meeting in December 2008.
Members 

The nine members have a range of backgrounds and expertise. The Board has combined expertise in business management; corporate governance; commodity production, processing and marketing; finance; public administration; risk management; management and conservation of natural resources and the environment; R&D administration; science; technology and technology transfer; economics and sociology.

Mr Keith Perrett, Chair (Non-executive)
• Appointed: 1 October 2007 until 30 September 2010
Keith farms his 1,000 ha Gunnedah property in northern NSW. He produces wheat, barley, cotton, sunflower, sorghum, sheep and cattle.

He is the Chairman of the National Rural Advisory Council, which advises the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry on rural issues including Exceptional Circumstances applications and extensions to EC declarations. He was President of the Grains Council of Australia between April 2001 and April 2005.

Keith is a past Chairman of the New South Wales Farmer's Association Grains Section, and has represented the grains industry at State and Federal level.
Keith was the Chairman of the Wheat Research Foundation of NSW between 2000 and October 2007. He was also a member of the Governing Council of the Plant Breeding Institute of the University of Sydney between 1997 and 2003.
________________________________________

Mr Peter Reading, Managing Director (Executive)
• BScAg (Hons), FAICD
• Appointed: February 2004
Peter Reading has been the Managing Director of the GRDC since February 2004. Peter is also the inaugural Chairman of Pulse Breeding Australia. Peter was previously the Managing Director of the Grain Pool Pty Ltd.
Peter graduated from the University of Sydney with an honours degree in agricultural science. He commenced post graduate studies in agronomy before leaving university to work for American Cyanamid in Australia, Asia and the United States; Incitec in Australia; and British Oxygen Group Asia and the Grain Pool in Western Australia.
________________________________________

Nicole Birrell, Director (Non-executive)
• MSc (London School of Economics), FAICD
• Appointed: 1 October 2005, reappointed until 30 September 2011
Nicole is an operational risk management consultant and runs a mixed farming enterprise at Corowa, New South Wales. Nicole has more than 25 years’ experience in corporate and investment banking, most recently as Head of Operational Risk and Compliance for the ANZ’s Institutional Financial Services division. 

Previously on the Board of AusBulk Ltd and the Chair of AusMalt Pty Ltd, Nicole is currently a Director of SuperPartners Pty Ltd and member of its IT Initiatives and Risk & Compliance Committees; a Director of SMS Management and Technology Ltd and member of its Audit, Compliance and Risk Committee; and a Member of Wheat Exports Australia and member of its Audit & Risk Management Committee. She also serves on the Programs Advisory Committee for the School of Applied Economics at Victoria University, Melbourne. Until December 2006 she was a Director of the Australian Practice Nurses Association Inc. and Chair of its Audit and Risk Management Committee.

________________________________________

Mr Colin Butcher, Director (Non-executive)
• MBA (Curtin University), GAICD
• Appointed: 11 November 2008, until 30 September 2011

Colin is a grain producer from Brookton in Western Australia. His farming business produces wheat, canola, barley, and hay for export, and sheep for meat and wool. He is also a board member of ChemCert WA and is a previous director of both CBH Ltd and the Grain Pool Pty Ltd. Mr Butcher has extensive experience in the grains industry and has represented the interests of grain producers at state and national levels. He also has a strong interest in the management and conservation of natural resources.
_________________________________________________________________
Ms Jennifer Goddard, Director (Non-executive)
• BComm (Hons in Economics)
• Appointed: 11 November 2008, until 30 September 2011 

Jenny has 23 years of experience as an economic policy adviser to the Australian Government, initially in the Treasury and then in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) where she worked until May 2008. Her 11 years as a senior executive officer in PM&C include four years as a Deputy Secretary with responsibility for: the Economic; Industry, Infrastructure and Environment; and Cabinet Divisions; and the COAG Secretariat. Jenny acted as the Secretary of PM&C on several occasions, including in early 2008. 

Jenny has extensive experience in and understanding of government policies, processes and administration, with high-level policy experience across a wide range of macroeconomic, Commonwealth-state, industry, infrastructure and environment policy issues and detailed knowledge of Australian Government Cabinet and Budget processes.
________________________________________

Jeanette Long, Director (Non-executive)
• BAppSc (Ag), GDEd, MBA (Agribusiness), GAICD
• Appointed: 11 November 2008, until 30 September 2011
Jeanette is a partner in a family farming business at Ardrossan in South Australia.
Ms Long is also a partner in an agricultural consulting business specialising in farm consulting, research and development and training and facilitation. She is a board member of Australian Women in Agriculture Ltd, and has chaired the national program Partners in Grain since 2005. 

Jeanette is the Vice Chair of the Ag Excellence Alliance (linking South Australian grower groups), and was the inaugural chair from 2005 to 2007. She was awarded the Centenary Medal in 2002 and the RIRDC Rural Women’s Award in 2004. She has a range of skills and experience relevant to the GRDC including commodity production and marketing and sociology.
________________________________________

Steve Marshall, Director (Non-executive)
• BSc (Hons1), MAppSc, FAIFST
• Appointed: 1 October 2005, reappointed until 30 September 2011

Steve has a background in food science and technology management. He was Managing Director of Goodman Fielder Ingredients Ltd from 1993 to 1998 and Technology Director of Goodman Fielder Ltd from 1999 to 2001. 

He was a director of the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation from 2002 and Deputy Chair until May 2008. He was also a Director of the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation between 2005 and 2007.
________________________________________

Professor Tim Reeves, Director (Non-executive)
• BSc (Hons), MAgrSc, FTSE
• Appointed: 1 October 2005, reappointed until 30 September 2011
Timothy Reeves is a consultant specialising in national and international agricultural R&D. He has worked for 40 years in agricultural R,D&E and extension, mostly focused on sustainable agriculture in Australia and overseas. His professional career includes positions in the Department of Agriculture, Victoria; Foundation Professor of Sustainable Agricultural Production, Adelaide University (1992–95) and Director General of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) based in Mexico (1995–2002). 

His other roles have included: Member, United Nations Millennium Project Task Force on Hunger; Chair, NSW Expert Committee on Gene Technology; Member, European Commission Expert Group for Evaluation of Framework Projects; Chair, Academic Advisory Board on International Community and Development Studies, Deakin University; Professorial Fellow, Melbourne University; Adjunct Professor, Queensland University of Technology; and Honorary Professor, Deakin University. He is a former President of the Australian Society of Agronomy. Timothy has received several international and national honours including the Centenary of Federation Medal.
________________________________________

Professor Graeme Robertson
• BSc (Agriculture) (Hons); PhD in plant physiology (Oxford)
• Appointed: 11 November 2008, until 30 September 2011 

Graeme has been the director of Curtin University’s School of Agriculture and Environment (the Muresk Institute) since March 2004, responsible for agribusiness, horticulture, viticulture, environmental biology, rangeland science and aquaculture. He also chairs the Pastoral Lands Board of Western Australia. 

Previously Professor Robertson spent 10 years as Director General of the Western Australian Department of Agriculture and was the inaugural chair of the Land and Water Resources Research and Development Corporation. He is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences, the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology and of the Australian Institute of Management. Graeme was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship in 1970; the Sir William McKell Medal in for outstanding contribution to soil and land conservation (1993); the Australian Medal of Agricultural Science (2001); and a Centenary Medal for service to Australian society (2002).