Our Leadership Team

Chief Executive Officer

Stephen was appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PGG Wrightson Limited in June 2019.  Stephen is a director of several Group subsidiaries and a Director of the PGG Wrightson Employee Benefits Plan Trustee Limited. He holds a Bachelor of Business Studies (Accounting) from Massey University and is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Directors and Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand.  Stephen is also a Director of Safer Farms and a director on a community charity board.

Prior to this appointment as CEO, Stephen was responsible for all aspects of the Retail & Water group business which includes the Rural Supplies, Fruitfed Supplies, Water, and Agritrade businesses.  He has worked for PGG Wrightson Limited and its predecessor companies since 1988. 

Nick was appointed General Manager Retail & Water in August 2019. Nick joined PGG Wrightson Limited as New Business Growth Manager for Agritrade in 2014 and through his five-year period with Agritrade he grew the business substantially. Before joining PGG Wrightson Limited, Nick was General Manager for RD1 for eight years and prior to that, National Operations Manager. 

Nick has an extensive track record of experience at general management level. Nick’s strengths include leadership, business management, and a strong sales and service focus, backed by an affinity for retail and the agribusiness sector.

Julian is responsible for the Group Strategy, Marketing, Legal, Corporate Communications, Business Services, and Investor Relations functions for PGG Wrightson Limited. He is also Company Secretary and previously held a number of responsibilities including, General Manager of PGG Wrightson Real Estate Limited and Internal Audit. Julian has broad operational involvement across the business and is Chair of the Credit Committee and Risk and Compliance Committee, director of several Group subsidiaries and a Director of the PGG Wrightson Employee Benefits Plan Trustee Limited.

He is a former General Counsel of DB Breweries Limited and has previously worked for law firms in the Middle East and New Zealand. Outside of his PGG Wrightson role, Julian also has a number of governance and voluntary positions, including as a Director of Trade Aid New Zealand, recently retired as Chair of Selwyn House School and as a Citizens Advice Bureau community lawyer.

Sarah was appointed to the role of General Manager People and Safety in August 2024, and is responsible for the design and delivery of our Group People & Safety strategy, and leadership of our Health, Safety & Wellbeing, Human Resources Business Partnering and Human Resource Shared Services teams.  Sarah joined PGG Wrightson Limited in 2011 and from 2019 held the position of Group Human Resource Manager in which she provided direct Human Resource business partnering services and leadership across all business units. 

Sarah is a former Area Human Resources Manager for Intercontinental Hotel Group where she spent 15 years in generalist Human Resource and Learning Development roles across New Zealand, Australia and Southeast Asia.

Peter is General Manager Livestock & Real Estate. Peter has led the PGG Wrightson Limited Real Estate business since September 2013 and he took responsibility for PGG Wrightson Limited Livestock in October 2020. Peter was previously General Manager of New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty. Peter was employed by Wrightson Limited from 1995-2005 during which time he held a range of roles including Marketing Manager and Business Development Manager. Prior to this, he had an extensive career in retail ownership management and franchising.

Peter was appointed as PGG Wrightson Limited’s Chief Financial Officer in March 2015 and leads the finance and technology functions.

Peter started his career at Fletcher Challenge and has broad multinational experience, having spent five years in Scandinavia where he was the Vice President of Accounting and Tax for Norske Skog, a large global newsprint and magazine paper producer. He relocated to Australia in 2005 and was appointed to the lead finance role for the Australasian region for Norske Skog.

In 2008 Peter joined Gloucester Coal Limited, an Australian Securities Exchange listed mining company as the Chief Financial Officer. In 2010 he joined the majority shareholder Noble Group, a leader in managing the supply chain of agriculture, energy, metals and mining resources, headquartered in Hong Kong and listed in Singapore. He was the Chief Financial Officer for Noble Group in Australia.

Rachel joined PGG Wrightson Limited in 2016 as the General Manager People & Safety. She was appointed the General Manager Wool in August 2024 to provide leadership in all aspects of Wool procurement, logistics, sales, and wool export. Rachel stepped into this role as a trusted Executive leader, as she is a strategic thinker who has strengths in both operational and people leadership. She is passionate about the primary sector and driving growth and innovation across PGG Wrightson Limited’s wool business.

A member of the Institute of Directors, Rachel is PGG Wrightson Limited’s Executive Director of bidr®, New Zealand's leading online platform for livestock trading, as well as a director of other Group subsidiaries. Prior to joining PGG Wrightson Limited, Rachel was the General Manager Human Resources at Solid Energy New Zealand Limited, after time spent locally and internationally as a human resource consultant specialising in organisational design, workforce planning and business transformation.