Ferrier turns to ice hockey rink for 'fix'

Andrew Ferrier

Fonterra chief executive Andrew Ferrier -- born and raised in Montreal -- says that when he needs a Canadian "fix" in New Zealand, all he has to do is turn up at one of Auckland's two hockey rinks, where he plays centre in an adult league.

"That's one way to meet Canadians in New Zealand -- turn up at the ice hockey rink," he told the Toronto Globe and Mail today.

"I'd say 30 to 40 per cent of the adult players are Canadian".

Mr Ferrier said when he took up his $2 million job that he would be willing to later take out New Zealand citizenship as part of his commitment to the company.

"Yes, I would see that potential," he said in his first days at Fonterra: "I think (New Zealand) will be good for my kids, I think it will be good for me and I expect that it will be good for Fonterra."

Mr Ferrier told the newspaper that he was met with some scepticism initially, but his performance over the past two years had silenced the initial critics: "I'm definitely not on a honeymoon, but I am enjoying a lot of support from the shareholders and the board and the employees, so it's going well."

According to a partner of the executive recruitment firm that placed him, he has been successful precisely because of his unassuming Canadian approach.

"Andrew Ferrier immediately impressed the [Fonterra] board with his ability to communicate with farmers as well as with heads of government," says Damien O'Brien, an Australia-based managing partner of recruitment firm Egon Zehnder International.

Mr. Ferrier said he was selected to head Fonterra because of his international experience in the sugar business: 16 years in Europe, the United States and Mexico, working for Tate and Lyle PLC, a British-based global sugar processor.

Although the products were different, but many of the trade issues in the sugar and dairy businesses had proved similar, Mr. Ferrier said.

But he agreed that he probably enjoyed a bit of a "Canadian advantage" as well:

"What you are looking for, what any business is looking for, is a combination of business capability and cultural fit and . . . Canadians are generally a good cultural fit".

He said Canadians were a little more flexible, and a little more accustomed to finding a way that was not necessarily banging people over the head.

Mr. Ferrier, who has an undergraduate degree in business administration from the University of New Brunswick and a master of business administration degree from Montreal's Concordia University, said that he had developed expertise in international trade issues as he travelled the globe. At Fonterra, when he recruited executives, he looked for cultural fit and international experience.

He said that when he got the cold call from an executive recruiter asking if he would be a candidate for the Fonterra post, he and his family decided the opportunity was too good to pass up.

"It was just an incredible opportunity to run a company on this global scale and it's about $C11 billion ($13 billion) in revenues right now, so it's a very strong player."

The other attraction, he says, was that Fonterra is a young company, formed just two years before Mr. Ferrier was approached in 2003 to take over the helm.

"To run a strong company, which is still so young that you can still actually mould it, is a very unique opportunity."

Mr Ferrier said he had recruited a network of influential farmers who were prepared to talk to their peers, and twice a year, senior management and members of the board gave them a special presentation on the business to make sure that they had all the information on the business that they needed.

His three school-aged children had also acclimatised, with a little help from the on-line MSN instant messaging service.

"MSN is phenomenal," Mr. Ferrier said with a laugh. "On Saturday mornings, the kids are all on their computers catching their friends when they get home Friday evenings from school. With the time difference, they can do that."

- NZPA