DWN leaders off to Beijing

Attendance is by invitation only for 250 woman leaders from Asia Pacific.  The forum is from November 14-16.

Dairy Women’s Network (DWN) executive chair and Southland dairy farm owner Michelle Wilson and DairyNZ director and DWN trustee Barbara Kuriger, a Taranaki dairy farm owner, are among 20 New Zealand women invited.

The forum theme is ‘Championing Innovation through Inclusive Leadership’. 

Keynote speakers include former NZ Prime Minister Dame Jenny Shipley and Minister of Justice Judith Collins, who will take part in a forum debate. The trip includes a briefing from Sarah Kennedy, Fonterra vice-president (VP) of international farming based in Beijing. In an event separate from the conference, Kennedy will speak to the New Zealand delegation about Fonterra’s business strategy for China.

Wilson says DWN’s rapid growth shows how the role of women is changing in the dairy industry, and how they are contributing to its success. 

“In reality dairying women are directors, managers and, in many cases, owners of multi-million dollar businesses which need people with sound leadership skills and farming, financial and business acumen.”  

Kuriger was the first Dairy Woman of the Year, in 2011, is a director of DairyNZ and chairs the Primary Industry Capability Alliance. She also sits on several agribusiness-related boards. DairyNZ is sponsoring her to the conference and chairman John Luxton says her selection recognises her long-standing leadership in the industry as one of DairyNZ’s longest-serving directors. 

Over the past 10 years, China and Asian countries have grown from a multi-million to a $2.6 billion a year dairy export market, he says. “This is a great opportunity for Barbara, who has just been re-elected on to our board, to represent our farmers amongst a select group of women from the Asia-Pacific regions.”

Fonterra chairman John Wilson says Wilson was a natural choice to sponsor to the conference.

“She is well known as a capable farmer and businesswoman who commits a lot of her time and energy to the community. 

“Her role as a Fonterra networker is a good example and I am confident the co-op will benefit from her experiences at APEC as much as Michelle will.”