Board of Directors

Michael Ahie (Chairman)

Michael Ahie is a business owner and company director based in Wellington. He is a founding partner of business coaching company Shirlaws New Zealand Ltd, and a director of the Manawatu Bio Commerce Centre Ltd (a business incubation company), Manawatu Investment Group Ltd (an angel investment fund), Clearwater Ltd (a privately owned consulting company) and Farmers Mutual Group (a rural insurance company).

Mr Ahie received a First Class Honours degree from Massey University and has completed the Executive Development Programme at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He brings to Plant & Food Research broad international business and governance experience with multinational companies in sales, marketing, global strategy and business management. His past roles include senior roles with Toyota New Zealand Ltd, the New Zealand Dairy Board and Wrightson Ltd.

Rodney Wong (Deputy Chairman)

Rodney Wong is a Palmerston North-based businessman and company director, with a work history within the food and dairy industries, including technical research and development, product process and development and project management.  Mr Wong is the former CEO of National Foods International Fine Foods Ltd, a position that he held for over ten years. 

His past governance roles have included Chair of Crop & Food Research Institute, Managing Director of Noske-Kaeser (NZ) Ltd (Engineering), Chair of Palmerston North International Airport Ltd (Infrastructure), Chair of Speirs Nutritional (Biotech commercialization) and a business mentor.

Dr Mark Bayly

Dr Mark Bayly has a background in international marketing and management consultancy, with a strong interest in, and emphasis on, innovation.  He holds a PhD from the National University of Ireland, UCD, Masters Degrees in both commercial law and business, as well as a Bachelors Degree in science. 

Dr Bayly has been a board member of several companies, and is currently serving as a Director of ZESPRI Group Limited and ZESPRI International Limited, amongst others.

Janie Elrick

Janie Elrick is a financial advisor.  Ms Elrick was previously the Chief Financial Officer for Livestock Improvement Corporation, Synlait Group and ZESPRI International Ltd, in a range of project officer roles with Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd, the General Manager Corporate Finance for the New Zealand Dairy Group of companies and the Taxation Manager for Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.

Ms Elrick's governance experience includes the Anchor Superannuation Fund, Pacific Health Ltd/Bay of Plenty District Health Board, Jandrew Investments Ltd and New Zealand Currency Concepts Ltd.

Jane Hunter

Jane Hunter co-founded the highly successful Marlborough based Hunters Wines with her late husband Ernie Hunter in 1979. For her service to the wine industry since, Ms Hunter has been awarded an OBE in 1993 and received an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Massey University in 1997.

Ms Hunter was also appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to viticulture in 2008, and in February 2009 was named a winner at  the annual KEA / New Zealand Trade & Enterprise, World Class New Zealand Awards – awards that recognise New Zealanders making an outstanding contribution to New Zealand’s economic development.

Jim Scotland

Mr Scotland is a Hawke's Bay-based business consultant, and former Deputy Chair of state-owned enterprise AgriQuality Ltd and Director of Landcorp Farming Ltd.

Among his current governance roles are Chair of Port of Napier Ltd, Director of Seeka Kiwifruit Industries Ltd and Director of Hawkes Bay Airport Ltd.

Alison Stewart

Professor Alison Stewart is the Director of the Bio-Protection Research Centre and Chair of aCoRE, the Association of Centres of Research Excellence. She is actively involved in developing and promoting the field of plant pathology and has a particular interest in the control of plant pathogenic fungi using antagonistic micro-organisms. Her research group has successfully commercialised three Trichoderma-based biocontrol products for the control of fruit and vegetable diseases.

Prof. Stewart was the recipient of the 2008 MAF Biosecurity Award for Excellence and in 2009 became a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) in recognition of her services to biology, in particular, to the area of plant pathology.

Mark Stuart

Mark Stuart is Chief Executive Officer at Waikatolink Limited. He has a background in technology-based businesses and gained his MBA at the University of Otago. As CEO of WaikatoLink, Mr Stuart has been involved in the launch of a number of companies based on intellectual property developed by the University of Waikato.

In addition to Plant & Food Research, Mr Stuart is a Director of ZyGEM Corporation Limited, Graftoss Limited, Novatein Limited, Obodies Limited, Nouvoa Limited, Solenza Limited, RuralLink and Chairperson of Khipu Systems limited. He is also a Council member on the New Zealand Angel Association and a member of the NZBio Advisory Council.