The Northern Cooperative Meat Company at Casino in northern NSW has appointed a new chief executive officer.

Experienced export meatworks operator Simon Stahl will take up the position from late February, replacing long-serving CEO, Gary Burridge, who announced late last year that he would be leaving NCMC after 18 years to take up a senior position and board responsibilities with T&R Pastoral.

Mr Stahl, 42, currently operates from Nippon Meat Packers Australia’s head office in Sydney, where he is manager of innovation and regulatory oversight.

He is broadly experienced in the Australian meat processing industry, having spent the past seven years as managing director of Nippon’s Mackay (Central Queensland) export plant.

He started his career at KR Darling Downs in Toowoomba, while completing a degree externally in Accounting through the University of Southern Queensland. He joined Nippon in 1992, working firstly at Oakey, in HR, IR and payroll before progressing to the accountant’s role.
Seven years ago he shifted to Mackay to manage the Borthwicks plant operations.

He currently sits in the NSW AMIC processor committee, and is a member of the National Beef Export Council.  

Cooperative-owned NCMC provides Australia’s largest service kills for a number of regular wholesaler and exporter clients, and also produces yearling domestic beef under its own banner.   

NCMC has completed the transition in kills for the Ramsey Meat Group, which closed its South Grafton abattoir late last year to take up a service kill option out of Casino.

Following his departure in April, Gary Burridge will sit on the T&R Pastoral board and manage the company’s East Coast operations based at the Wallangarra lamb plant on the Qld/NSW border, Tamworth (lamb processing) and Coffs Harbour in NSW and Brisbane wholesale distribution facilities. He will continue to operate out of the Northern Rivers region, central to where T&R’s eastern businesses operate.

Mr Burridge will continue in his current role as the Australian Meat Industry Council’s Australian Processor Council chairman.

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