John Ladley, Director

Growing up surrounded by opportunities in the primary sector has helped shape my career. My working career started with working in large scale horticultural operations, largely berryfruit, kiwifruit, pip and stonefruit. From my practical hands-on start, I shifted to working in rural retail, utilising my practical knowledge and coupled this with my understanding of dairy, sheep and beef farming. As my career evolved, I was able to draw on this broad knowledge and experience base and applying this in the agribusinesses I was working for. This led to building and refining a wide range of skills covering, sales planning, account management, product and market development, supply chain management, operational planning, strategic planning, relationship management and people leadership. These opportunities have spanned from working in rural retail, wholesale and industry good organisations. 

This broad experience has shaped me into a highly experienced agribusiness executive with strong operational, sales, and stakeholder relationship skills. Proven people leadership, strategic and commercial acumen, interpersonal skills, as well as exceptional organisational, planning, and facilitation skills.  I am passionate about supporting farmers and growers and ensuring organisations can deliver positive outcomes for farmers. Having a strong people focus, I see my role being to support, encourage and connect people in the rural community, it is after all the relationships we have within our rural communities that create the success.

Contact: jl.director@apen.org.au