Farmer takes fast track to top chair

By Philippa Stevenson

agricultural editor

The new Dairy Board chairman, Graham Fraser, has had a meteoric rise to the top job of the country's biggest company, just eight years after gaining his first industry directorship.

The 51-year-old Rotorua farmer, who will take over from the dumped John Storey after the board's annual meeting on October 12, was yesterday described as honourable, and an all-round nice guy.

The chairman of Dairy Farmers of New Zealand, Charlie Pedersen, said he thought the board's decision to go with the deputy chairman of two years would be popular with farmers.

"Mr Fraser is a farmer's man and has very good communication and listening skills. He has proven himself to be interested in others' views, which is vital in a dairy industry leader during this time of change."

Unlike previous board chairmen, Mr Fraser has had a relatively short time in the industry's political ranks. He became the director for the Reporoa ward of Dairy Group in 1991, was elected to the Dairy Board within three years - about half the time taken by many of his predecessors - and became deputy chairman in 1997.

Unusually, too, for the industry leadership, Mr Fraser, the son of a Westport truck driver and a teacher, has a tertiary qualification and came to farming in his 30s.

He gained a bachelor of commerce in economics from Canterbury University before working for five years for New Zealand Forest Products at Kinleith. He bought his first farm, near Rotorua, in 1982.

Yesterday, he said the qualification was "perhaps not necessary ... but it is certainly a help."

Mr Fraser, who will step down from the mega co-op establishment board to focus on his Dairy Board role, has described himself as cautious about the pace of industry change.

"I will be watching to see that [mega co-op] business is constructed and run in an efficient manner because, putting all our businesses into one entity, we need to be careful to ensure that it is efficient," he said.

His leadership style would be to concentrate on commercial issues while maintaining good lines of communication with farmers. "It is a difficult balance," he said.

His message to farmers was that "they have a strong business. It can be made better, all businesses can. It has a well-established footprint in the world, and is working to full capacity against some quite difficult trading conditions.

"I will do my best to ensure that business ... is gripped up and moving forward."

The board's new deputy chairman is Kiwi Dairies director Harry Bayliss, of Taranaki.