Our 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 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, Agritrade, and Water 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 PGW as New Business Growth Manager for Agritrade in 2014 and through his five year period with Agritrade he grew the business substantially. Before joining PGW, 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 are leadership, business management, along with strong sales and service focus, backed up with a strong 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 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 Limited role, Julian also has a number of governance and voluntary positions, including as a Director of Trade Aid New Zealand, Chair of Selwyn House School and as a Citizens Advice Bureau community lawyer.

Grant was appointed as General Manager Wool in October 2017. He is responsible for all aspects of the Wool business including procurement, logistics, sales, and wool export.  Grant holds a Bachelor in Agriculture Science from Lincoln University majoring in Wool Science.  He began his career in Livestock with Reid Farmers Limited in the mid-1980s and then joined their Wool Business.  He has held the position of Wool Manager at Reid Farmers and Pyne Gould Guinness Limited.  Grant more recently held a role with PGG Wrightson as General Manager Regions. Grant has spent over 20 years directly in the wool industry and states, “once you have a passion for wool it never leaves.” 

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 spending 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 and is responsible for our Group People & Safety strategy. She leads the functional teams of Health, Safety & Wellbeing, Human Resources, Remuneration & Reward, Learning & Development, Payroll, HR Information Systems and Shared Services. She is a member of the Institute of Directors and is PGW’s Executive Director of bidr®. 

Rachel is a former GM Human Resources at Solid Energy New Zealand Limited, after time spent as a human resource consultant both abroad and in her hometown of Christchurch, specialising in organisational design, workforce planning and business transformation.