Meet Anishka Jelicich, CEO of New Zealand Winegrowers

The New Zealand Winegrowers Chief Executive recalls treading grapes as a child for her grandfather Joe Jelicich, a Croatian immigrant who grew vines and made wine in suburban Mount Roskill. “Grandma had preserves at one end of the cellar, and my grandfather had his wine barrels.”

Nearly four decades on, including nine years working abroad for Pernod Ricard, most recently in Paris, Anishka has returned to Auckland to head up an organisation overseeing New Zealand’s wine industry. “This was an exciting opportunity to come back and marry up some passions and work with people in an industry that I believe in,” she says of taking the helm of a $2.1 billion export industry. “The wine industry is dear to my heart.”

Speaking at the Wine Business Forum in Wellington in August, just a month into her role, Anishka commented on the depth of knowledge, commitment and practical experience she has found throughout the industry. “I’m really conscious that the deepest understanding is going to come from listening… so that we can keep New Zealand Winegrowers focused on delivering for you, our members, the growers, wineries and people that help make it happen.”

Anishka’s career path began with a French literature degree at the University of Otago. But her postgraduate studies were “slightly interrupted” when she was elected to the Dunedin City Council, aged 21, becoming the city’s youngest councillor. That “changed the trajectory”, as she became interested in the public policy interface between people, government and industry, spreading her time between student politics and council work.

Dunedin was a “fabulous” experience, but when she hit a “midlife crisis” at 23, Anishka decided not to run for council again, and instead embarked on a master’s in public policy, leading to a career as an analyst at the New Zealand Treasury in the mid-1990s, when National’s Jim Bolger was Prime Minister. After time in a minister’s office, she went on to work for the New Zealand Embassy in the United States, which was a great experience, she says, noting the “natural evolutions” in her career. “I’ve always believed in following both your interests and, where you can, making a contribution.”

Anishka returned to more government work in New Zealand, before taking on a public affairs role with Pernod Ricard in Auckland in 2010. Then in 2017 the company asked her to move to London to help manage its Brexit transitions, and Anishka spent another seven years dealing with Westminster and the Scottish government, focused largely on Pernod Ricard’s Chivas Brothers Scotch whisky division and the United Kingdom market.

From there she moved to Paris, as Global Director of Responsible Marketing & Sales for Pernod Ricard, focused on internal standards about ethical advertising, including assessing sustainability claims and how products were framed in terms of responsible consumption and their appeal to youth, as well as working with international institutions such as the World Health Organisation and United Nations.

Globally changing consumer trends are impacting on wine, although there’s still some debate as to what is structural and what’s cyclical, Anishka says. “What we’re seeing is consumers increasingly making choices that reflect lifestyle and moderation trends.” This includes growing demand for lighter, refreshing wines and also transparency with sustainability claims, she adds. “The Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand certification programme is world-leading and credible and, when combined with New Zealand’s reputation for distinctive, premium wines, it positions us strongly for continued growth in global markets.”

New Zealand wine still commands a premium, there is plenty of “untapped potential” in new markets, and the global trend for whiter and lighter wines aligns with many of New Zealand’s “core propositions”, Anishka says.

Now once again in Auckland, knee deep in the wine industry, she believes New Zealand wine’s “positive trajectory” will continue into the future. “Wine has been around for thousands of years and I don’t anticipate that changing.”