Australian Pork Limited’s long time chairman and grocery industry leader, Enzo Allara, is quitting his role on the pig industry’s peak body board after 13 years.
He will be replaced by West Australian seafood sector businessman and meat industry boss, David Lock, who fills Mr Allara’s director’s seat and the chairman’s job.
Mr Lock, an accountant by training, is also deputy chairman of WA’s Water Corporation and has 13-plus years’ experience in executive roles in agribusiness.
Mr Allara, who became a specialist director at APL in 2004, advised board directors of his planned resignation at its June meeting.
His commitment to our producers is to be commended and his patience and wisdom on the board will be missed as we enter this new era.
- Andrew Spencer, Australian Pork Limited
He will focus on other pursuits after more than 40 years involvement with the food and grocery industries in Australia and internationally, principally with global giant Unilever.
He is also chairman of Queensland-based Sunpork Group, Australia’s largest locally owned pig producer and processor, which owns the Swickers plant at Kingaroy.
He is a past member of the Prime Minister’s Supermarket to Asia Council, a former executive with the Foodbank charity and past chairman of the Australian Food and Grocery Council and was awarded the Order of Australia (AM) medal in 2012.
His industry knowledge has helped guide the Australian pork industry through both good and bad times.
Mr Allara's said his resignation allowed for proper board succession and he believed APL’s board was in capable hands.
“It is a challenging time. With change comes new perspectives and ideas,” he said.
“It is important that as an industry we continue to move forward and we are very fortunate to have very skilled individuals willing to come on board.”
APL chief executive officer, Andrew Spencer, described Mr Allara’s contribution to the industry as “phenomenal”.
“His commitment to our producers is to be commended and his patience and wisdom on the board will be missed as we enter this new era.”
Mr Lock’s appointment as director and chairman must be ratified at the industry’s general meeting in November.
He is currently chairman of Mareterram Limited, a listed company which owns the majority of quota in the Shark Bay prawn fishery in WA as well as a seafood import and distribution business operating nationally in Australia.
He has previously worked for Coopers and Lybrand (now PwC) in Australia, Canada and the UK, primarily in the insolvency and restructuring business, in the agriculture, steel, coal mining, and banking sectors.
Mr Lock is a past CEO of the big Craig Mostyn Group, which operates a paddock to plate pork business processing 98pc of WA pigs.
The Mostyn group also renders 150,000 tonnes of by-product a year and has a seafood import, export and processing business.
He also sits on the Curtin Business School Advisory Council and on the Department of Primary Industries’ Market Access to Asia Council.
He agreed the Australian pork industry was experiencing “very challenging times”.
“My role, and the role of APL, is to listen to producers and work with them to try to improve the industry in the short term and to position it to be successful in the longer term,” he said.
“I thank Mr Allara for his diligence in getting me up to speed and I will continue his hard work.
“I look forward to meeting all stakeholders and working with them, the board and APL to deliver a great future for the industry.”
- Does this article interest you? Scroll down to the comments section and start the conversation. You only need to sign up once and create a profile in the Disqus comment management system for permanent access to all discussions.