Contact us
If you have any questions, please contact us on 0800 155 355 (Mon-Fri, 8am-4pm NZST), or email Contact.Canopy@zespri.com.
Our people
We are 100% owned by current and former kiwifruit growers. These growers appoint our board members to provide strong strategic direction for the company, and ensure it meets all regulatory requirements.
Zespri’s eight Board Members offer a wide range of experience, from international marketing and corporate governance to industry knowledge and financial expertise. They’re also responsible for appointing our Executive Team.
Our Board Members and Executive Team are listed below, but if you are looking to get in touch with us here at Zespri, then head to the contact us page here.
Board of Directors
Nathan Flowerday
Chairman
- ZGL / ZIL Chairman since March 2024
- ZGL / ZIL Director since July 2012
- Zespri Board appointed Director on Kiwifruit Breeding Centre (KBC)
Nathan Flowerday came from a farming and kiwifruit orchard background. After graduating from Massey University, Nathan spent several years as a Rural Bank Manager in the Bay of Plenty before joining Investment Managers (London) as Business Analyst and Management Accountant, before returning to New Zealand in 2006.
Nathan became involved in the kiwifruit industry in 1997, when his family moved over from the Waikato and purchased their first kiwifruit orchard. Now, Nathan is involved in all aspects of kiwifruit growing, owning several orchards and an Orchard Management and Orchard Contracting Business. He is passionate about the Kiwifruit industry, as well as ensuring Zespri continues to deliver premium kiwifruit to the world, resulting in strong returns back to Zespri growers and shareholders.
Nathan is the founding Director of the Kiwifruit Breeding Centre, and has been involved in the Kiwifruit Breeding Programme for the last decade. Nathan is passionate about ensuring we continue to invest in Innovation to keep Zespri as the world leader in Kiwifruit. Nathan is a member of the NZ China Business Council and New Zealand International Business Forum.
Craig Thompson
Deputy Chair
- Zespri Deputy Chair since October 2024
- ZGL / ZIL Director since June 2019
- Chair of the Global Supply Advisory Board
- Member of the Board Innovation Sub-committee
- Zespri Board appointed Director of Kiwifruit Vine Health (KVH)
Craig Thompson has been in the kiwifruit industry for over 30 years and has orchard ownership both directly and via company shareholding in Gisborne, Ōpōtiki, Te Puke and Latina, Italy. He is a former Managing Director (MD) and was a Director of OPAC until the merger with Seeka in May 2021.
Craig worked for Zespri from 2015 to 2019 as the European Supply Manager for ZGS Europe based in Italy. In his former OPAC MD role Craig was involved in various industry groups. He grows Zespri Green, Zespri SunGold Zespri RubyRed Kiwifruit and is actively involved in orchard management via his business Thompsons Horticulture Ltd.
He is also involved with DCD Orchards Ltd and Kaiaponi Farms Ltd in Gisborne and he is a Director and Chairman company shareholding on both companies. He also has shares in three other kiwifruit orchard companies.
Paul Jones
Director
- ZGL / ZIL Grower Director since July 2014
- Chair of the People and Culture Committee
- Member of Industry Advisory Council
- Member of the Board Innovation Sub Committee
- Zespri Deputy Chair from February 2019 to October 2024
Paul Jones is a long term Kiwifruit grower and investor. He is a Founding Partner and Director of Direct Management Services (DMS), a post-harvest and orchard management company in the Bay of Plenty.
Paul has served on a number of industry entities and, prior to his appointment as Director, was a member of the KGI Forum, and a Director of Kiwifruit Vine Health (KVH). He grows all Zespri commercial varieties and is actively involved in orchard management.
Jonathan Mason
Director
- ZGL / ZIL Independent Director since May 2013
- Chair of the Audit and Risk Management Committee
- Member of the People and Culture Committee
Mr. Mason has more than 30 years’ experience in the financial sector, with an emphasis on emerging markets. After joining Zespri’s board in May 2013, Jonathan stepped down as Fonterra Co-operative Group’s Chief Financial Officer.
He joined Fonterra in 2009 from US-based chemicals company Cabot Corporation where he was Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer. Prior to this he was employed as the Chief Financial Officer at forest products company Carter Holt Harvey and also served in senior financial management positions at US based International Paper and Exxon Mobil.
Mr. Mason has had governance experience for organisations in both New Zealand and the US. His directorships include Vector Limited, Westpac NZ, and Air New Zealand. Mr. Mason is also an Honorary Adjunct Professor of Accounting and Finance at the University of Auckland.
Alison Barrass
Director
- ZGL / ZIL Director since June 2021
- Chair of the Global Sustainability Advisory Board
- Member of the People and Culture Committee
- Member of the Board Innovation Subcommittee
Alison has significant governance experience, sitting on the boards of Spark, GWA Group, Heilala Vanilla and Rockit Global and she also Chairs the Boards of Tom and Luke and Babich Wines. Alison has more than 30 years’ experience working in major international FMCG companies in both sales and marketing and is the former CEO of Goodman Fielder and Griffins Foods.
Michael Ahie
Director
- Chancellor of Massey University
- Chair of Spring Sheep Milk Co
- Chair of New Zealand Plant Market Access Council (PMAC)
Passionate about his country, Michael Ahie (Taranaki, Ngā Ruahine, Ngāti Ruanui) is dedicated to the commercial and cultural success of organisation in New Zealand.
Michael speaks regularly at industry groups and forums on leadership and the food & fibre sector. He draws on his experience growing up in a farming community in Coastal South Taranaki and his previous roles with Toyota New Zealand Ltd, the New Zealand Dairy Board and Wrightson Ltd. Michael continues to coach and mentor chief executives and their leadership teams and is a certified Leadership Circle® coach.
Michael completed the Executive Development Programme at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and is a regular attendee of the Te Hono programme at Stanford University. He received his honours degree from Massey University.
Sally Gardiner
Director
- ZGL / ZIL Director since August 2024
Sally Gardiner has been involved in the kiwifruit industry for over 25 years. This has included 16 years working for Zespri Group Ltd and its predecessor, the NZ Kiwifruit Marketing Board (most recently as General Manager Supply chain), three years in post harvest and nine years as a grower (where she also has proudly spent six years representing growers at NZKGI) and as a co-founder of a horticultural innovation company, Start Afresh Ltd.
Sally’s educational background includes a degree in Accounting, an MBA with Distinction and a degree in Economics and Computer Science. She is a chartered accountant and member of the Institute of Financial Professionals NZ Inc.
Sally is passionate about building on the strong foundation that the industry’s forebears created: delivering health, vitality, exceptional taste and quality to consumers worldwide; coupled with a world-class efficient supply chain and with the entire system backed by innovation.
Andrew Dunstan
Director
- ZGL / ZIL Director since August 2024
Andrew Dunstan grows Gold, Red, and Organic kiwifruit in the Bay of Plenty & Auckland.
He has previously spent many years as CEO of a kiwifruit services business, Southern Cross Horticulture, which develops and manages orchards.
Andrew has served on multiple industry entities prior to becoming a Zespri Director and is deeply committed to the success of the New Zealand’s kiwifruit industry.
Outside of kiwifruit he has active interests in dairy, wood processing, and property.
Executive Team
Jason Te Brake
Chief Executive Officer
Jason was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Zespri in July 2024. Prior to his role as CEO, Jason was Zespri’s Chief Operating Officer leading the response to quality challenges, as well as the planning and execution to deliver the industry's largest ever crop in 2024.
He first joined Zespri in 2020 and has held a number of roles including Chief Global Supply Officer, Head of New Zealand Supply and Commercial Manager.
Jason is a chartered accountant and has extensive commercial experience within New Zealand agribusiness companies, including his supply chain experience at Zespri. Prior to joining Zespri he held commercial, sales and marketing and finance roles at KPMG, AFFCO, ANZCO and Mirka.
Jason is passionate about leading and positively influencing New Zealand food companies marketing premium products around the world and returning value back to New Zealand growers and their communities.
He is based at Zespri’s head office in New Zealand.
Tim Mackle
Acting Chief Operating Officer
Tim was appointed Acting Chief Operating Officer in July 2024, after joining Zespri in October 2023 as Head of Global Quality.
Before joining Zespri, Tim was DairyNZ’s Chief Executive for more than 15 years, and prior to that he was Chief Executive of Dexcel Ltd.
Tim was previously general manager of Fonterra subsidiary, Anchor Ethanol. He also worked in strategy for the New Zealand Dairy Board before taking a corporate role at Fonterra supporting the CEO during its establishment. Early in his career he was a nutrition and milk characteristics scientist with NZ Dairy Board subsidiary DRC.
He has a PhD in animal, food and nutritional sciences from Cornell University, New York, and a Bachelor of Agriculture Science (Hons) from Lincoln University. Tim is excited to support New Zealand growers and farmers to take their premium food to the world.
Richard Hopkins
Chief Financial Officer
Richard joined Zespri in March 2019 as Chief Financial Officer, responsible for Finance, Corporate Performance, Compliance and Legal Services.
Prior to joining Zespri Richard was CFO at Ballance Agri-Nutrients, he joined the business in 2011 before becoming CFO in 2013.
Richard has a Degree in Chemistry from Warwick University and a MBA from Leeds University.
Jiunn Shih
Chief Marketing, Innovation & Sustainability Officer
Jiunn Shih has been with Zespri since September 2016. In his role as Chief Marketing, Innovation & Sustainability Officer he is responsible for leading Zespri’s marketing, innovation R&D, sustainability, and corporate strategy functions.
Before this, he was Zespri’s Chief Marketing Officer, directing Zespri's Global Brand strategy, development of marketing communication, and deployment across all marketing channels.
Prior to joining Zespri, Jiunn built a solid sales and marketing track record in senior roles at Unilever and L’Oréal across Latin America, Asia, and Europe.
Edith Sykes
Chief People Officer
Edith joined Zespri as Chief People Officer in September 2019. Edith brings a passion for organisations being more successful through a people-centered approach, leading best practice, cultural excellence and capacity development – attributes that relate strongly to what we value around people and performance.
Edith has over 25 years’ experience in both strategic and operational Human Resources roles, building organisation capability and culture, leadership and talent development, employee engagement, change leadership and performance. Her human resource leadership roles span manufacturing, primary industry, health and financial services, including global companies such as Cadbury, Kraft Foods and SCA. Edith is of Ngati Pikiao and Ngati Makino descent and holds a Bachelor of Business Studies from Massey University.
David Scullin
Chief Digital Officer
Dave joined Zespri in October 2019 and leads our Digital Services team which is at the heart of our goal of creating a digital business – delivering a personalised service for our growers and customers, real-time data to drive decision making, and more simplified business processes.
Dave was previously Chief Digital Officer at Ballance Agri-Nutrients and prior to that Chief Information Officer at LIC. He has held a number of senior digital roles in a number of organisations throughout his career including Rio Tinto and Fonterra.
Dave is a firm believer that any sort of digital change or transformation is not about the technology. It is about enabling business strategy and solving business problems.
Ichiro Anzai
President Asia Pacific
Ichiro Anzai joined Zespri Japan in September 2014 as a Country Manager. His responsibility was expanded to Korea as GM, Japan/Korea and then he took on the role of looking after the APAC region in October 2019.
Before joining Zespri, Ichiro held senior sales and marketing positions across a number of top level FMCG organisations including Bristol Myers, Bausch & Lomb, Unilever and McDonald’s.
Ichiro holds an MBA from Thunderbird Graduate School of International Management in Arizona.
Nikki Johnson
Acting General Manager of Europe
Nikki was appointed Acting General Manager of Europe in November 2024. Prior to this, Nikki was the Head of In-Market Supply for Zespri with global responsibilities based in Europe. Nikki joined Zespri in May 2021 as the Strategic Projects Manager for Northern Hemisphere Supply and was based in Bologna, Italy.
Before joining Zespri, Nikki was the Chief Executive Officer of NZ Kiwifruit Growers Inc for 5 years, based in Tauranga, New Zealand. Prior to this, Nikki was the co-owner and co-founder of consulting business Market Access Solutionz based in Wellington, New Zealand for 13 years providing technical policy and industry representation advice to the horticulture sector. Previously, Nikki also spent time working with the Ministry for Primary Industries negotiating export market access and for the Foundation for Arable Research working on research project management and information transfer.
Nikki has a Bachelor of Agricultural Science (Hons) from Lincoln University.
Michael Jiang
President Greater China
Michael joined Zespri in January 2019 and is responsible for driving business in mainland China, Hong Kond and Taiwan. He is based in Shanghai.
Michael has more than 20 years of marketing and sales experience and enjoys an outstanding reputation in the field of fast-moving consumer goods. He has served at Fortune Global 500 consumer brand companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Danone and Mondelēz. Michael is an expert in new channel development, marketing and integrated management. His knowledge of the China market and diverse range of channels completements his extensive industry experience and excellent leadership skills.
Michael holds a bachelor’s degree in international trade from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies and an MBA from Shanghai Jiatong University.
Nick Kirton
Executive Officer Northern Hemisphere Supply
Nick was appointed Executive Officer Northern Hemisphere Supply in March 2021. Nick joined Zespri in 2014 in the role of External Relations Manager, based in the New Zealand office. In 2018 he was appointed to the role of Programme Director – China Supply, based in Shanghai, where he was responsible for overseeing supply chain trials in China. In 2019 he was appointed to the role of Asia Regional Manager – International Production, managing supply operations in Korea and Japan.
Prior to Zespri, Nick worked for the New Zealand Government, where he was involved in the negotiation of international trade agreements and advised government Ministers in the portfolios of Economic Development and Primary Industries. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree, majoring in Economics.
Rachel Depree
Executive Officer Sustainability
Rachel joined Zespri in October 2018 to establish and lead the global sustainability function. Tasked with pan-industry leadership, this includes setting strategy, establishing enduring work programmes and building the capability of the business and industry to achieve an ambitious set of targets in areas of nutrition, packaging, water, climate change and workforce.
Rachel is focused on how to create the conditions for long-term change both within the industry and beyond, sharing her sustainability expertise and enabling others to gain confidence to step up and lead.
She is a seasoned sustainability professional, with experience in senior business, industry and government roles in New Zealand and most recently in Europe over the past fifteen years.
Tim Clarkson
Executive Officer Strategy
Tim was appointed Executive Officer Strategy in April 2022. Tim joined Zespri in September 2021 in the role of Global Head of Strategy based in the New Zealand office. Tim has a passion for shaping companies of the future success. He brings significant experience having advised companies across multiple industries on large scale projects and leading executive teams through strategic growth agendas that have helped to deliver sustainable value.
He has over 25 years’ experience in M&A, corporate finance and consulting in investment banking and Big 4 professional services firms in the UK and NZ and has served as a director of a number of companies in NZ, UK, US and China. Prior to Zespri, Tim spent 8 years in the international fresh produce industry with T&G Global. He was T&G Global Chief Strategy Officer for over six years responsible for strategy and project management of transformational change projects. In 2020, he led T&G’s acquistion and integration of T&G’s NZ business and Freshman NZ and was appointed Chief Financial Officer of the newly integrated T&G Fresh prior to joining Zespri.
Tracy McCarthy
Executive Officer Grower and Industry Engagement
Tracy has joined Zespri in 1999 and during her time with Zespri has built experience in a range of roles that span the Finance, Commerical and also our Grower and Industry Team during that period. Tracy’s passion is working alongside our kiwifruit growing community and strengthening the industry for future growth. Tracy’s focus will be on reshaping and enhancing Zespri’s engagement with growers and the wider industry as we focus on engaging better and building a more collaborative, successful and resilient industry for growers.
During her time with Zespri she has gained experience in a range of roles in our Grower and Industry Team and led key initiatives within the business including the transformation of our licence release programme.
Tracy Sherlock
Chief Executive Assistant
Tracy joined Zespri in April 2010 as the Chief Executive Assistant to the CEO and Board of Directors and is responsible for managing the CEO’s office. Prior to joining Zespri, she spent almost a decade working at the Bay of Plenty District Health Board supporting the GM of Planning and Funding, the Chief Medical Doctor and Director of Nursing. Tracy has more than 20 years administrative experience with the horticulture, health and hospitality industries and is an active member of AdmiNZ Association, and previously held roles as Group President for Tauranga and the Northern Regional Leader for the Association of Administrative Professionals NZ Inc.
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