New Chairperson elected for NZYF Board

The first Board Meeting of the newly elected New Zealand Young Farmers Board was held in Christchurch yesterday (August 3^rd). A key agenda item was the election of a new NZYF Board Chairperson.

The decision was made to change the title of NZYF President to Chairperson to bring the organisation into line with other board structures.

Paul Olsen of the Opiki Club in the Taranaki/Manawatu Region was elected for a two year term at the recent AGM and yesterday was named the new Chairperson of the NZYF Board on Wednesday.

Paul has been a member of NZYF since 2004 and his worked his way through Club and Regional Executive positions. A passion for the organisation and a desire to give something back meant that Paul hoped to be voted in as Chairperson and was “pretty stoked” with landing the top job.

“It’s a bit of an honour to be able to do this job and to be on the board of NZYF, because it’s the members that vote you in here.”

With this is mind Paul hopes to be approachable both to members and to industry partners. During his time on the Board he also hopes to see the organisation build on existing foundations and relationships that past board members have developed.

“As an organisation we’re held in a high regard and I believe we can further leverage off this to aid in the future stability, growth and development of NZYF.”

“I’d also like to see membership levels continue to grow while meeting member’s expectations with the aid of the new initiatives that are currently being implemented.”

Paul is Operations Manager for his family’s farming company that has a dairy farm in Opiki and the Wairarapa along with a potato production operation.

Vanessa Hore, from the Upper Manuherikia Club in Otago/Southland is also beginning a two year term on the Board; she was voted in as Vice Chairperson. Vanessa hopes to help the organisation maintain stability during a time of rapid growth, while also representing the many female members of NZYF. Vanessa farms merino sheep and beef cattle with her husband Ben.

The NZYF Board is as follows: Chairperson – Paul Olsen; Vice Chairperson – Vanessa Hore; Elected Board Member – Cole Groves; Elected Board Member – Jason Hoyle; Contest Chairman – Bevan Proffit; Co-opted Board Member – Sarah von Dadleszen; Strategic Partner – David Pratt; NZYF CEO – Richard Fitzgerald.

New Zealand Young Farmers is funded through levy paying New Zealand Farmers thanks to DairyNZ, Beef + Lamb New Zealand and MAF.