The Board of Livestock Improvement Corporation (LIC) has appointed David Chin as the farmer-owned co-operative's new chief executive officer.
Chin is currently LIC's general manager operations and service, on the co-operative's senior leadership team.
He is responsible for LIC's laboratories, farms and the field teams that deliver services on-farm, including artificial breeding, herd testing and FarmWise consultancy.
Chin has held various other leadership roles at LIC since starting in 2006, including chief transformation officer, key account manager and marketing manager.
Chairman Murray King said the Board was pleased to appoint Chin, as he was a highly regarded leader at LIC, with extensive experience in the business.
"David has a natural empathy for people, knows our farmers well and knows the business, having led several key strategic initiatives, including overseeing the recent transformation programme.
Chin was heavily involved in the refinement of LIC's strategy earlier this year, King said.
"The implementation of this strategy will continue to be a key focus for the co-op under David's leadership, as well as the continued strength of LIC's financial performance.
"We are confident David's leadership, combined with his deep operational knowledge and passion for delivering value to our farmers will serve the co-op very well."
Chin said it was "a tremendous privilege" to be named the next chief executive of LIC.
"I've been fortunate to get to know many of these people as well as many of our farmers over the last 15 years and it is truly an honour to be given this opportunity to lead the co-op."
The appointment follows the departure of Wayne McNee on November 30, 2021, after eight years in the role.
Chin thanked McNee for all his hard work.
"He leaves LIC in a strong position and I look forward to building on this with the Board, the LIC team and our farmers."
Chin will start in the chief executive role on January 17, 2022, at which time interim chief executive David Hazlehurst will return to the role of chief financial officer.