Live Export

Live export council begins search for new CEO

James Nason 07/09/2011

The Australian Live Exporters Council will begin the search for a new chief executive officer in coming weeks after incumbent Lach MacKinnon tendered his resignation last Friday.

Mr MacKinnon, who had been in the role for four years, told Beef Central he believed it was time for a new executive to take ALEC forward.

He has given six months notice to provide the ALEC board with ample time to find a suitable replacement.

Prior to joining ALEC Mr MacKinnon was the chief executive officer of the Northern Territory Live Exporters Association for four years based in Darwin, and prior to that worked in agribusiness banking with NAB. 

ALEC chairman Peter Kane said Mr MacKinnon would be a loss to the organisation.

“I came in as chairman late last year but it was terrific to come in and work alongside a CEO who has got so much to offer the organisation,” Mr Kane said.

“We’ll be very sorry to see him go but obviously we wish him well in whatever he chooses to do next.”

Mr Kane said ALEC would commence the search for a replacement by advertising for candidates within the next fortnight.

He said the position was a challenging one but offered "a tremendous opportunity".

“There is no doubt about it that even if we had an easy last six months, which is far from what we have had, we still needed someone who was highly motivated and who is very prepared to knuckle down and put in the hard yards and just appreciate the constituency that he or she will be working in.

“It is a demanding job, even in more normal times.

“But I think it is a tremendous opportunity for someone, and a position that can be a very significant milestone in someone’s broader career path.”

The role of the CEO is to work with Government, industry and the community to represent the 20 members of the Australian Live Export Council who are principally private exporting businesses and industry service organisations.

Mr Kane said that ideally the successful candidate would have livestock experience and a proven ability to work effectively with Government.

“One of the big additional areas of work that we will have to accommodate over the period ahead is to undertake those things that will better prepare the organisation for a further challenge, the likes of which we have had recently,” Mr Kane said.

“What that translates to is to ensure that among other things our political situation is as strong as it possibly can be.

“We do put in a lot of work around Australia to have everyone understand just how important this industry is, and one of the lessons of the last few months is that you can’t put in too much of that sort of work.”

Mr Kane said that due to the need for regular interaction with Government it was essential that the position was based in Canberra.

HAVE YOUR SAY

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Your comment will not appear until it has been moderated.
Contributions that contravene our Comments Policy will not be published.

Comments

Get Beef Central's news headlines emailed to you -
FREE!