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HEA Board Members

Stephanie Honey – Chair

Stephanie Honey is a trade policy consultant. She serves as Associate Director of the New Zealand International Business Forum and as a policy advisor to the New Zealand members of the APEC Business Advisory Council, and is the co-founder of a business offering executive education in trade policy as well as running an independent trade policy consultancy.  Stephanie’s areas of expertise include agriculture and food trade, regional economic integration especially in the Asia-Pacific, the WTO and free trade agreements, and digital trade.  Stephanie was formerly a trade negotiator at the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, including serving as the chief New Zealand Agriculture Negotiator in the WTO Doha Round, a posting at the New Zealand Mission to the EU in Brussels, and in a variety of other roles. HEA board member since March 2020, Stephanie replaced Peter Luxton as Chairperson from 1 October 2023.

Lesley Wilson – Horticulture New Zealand nominee

Lesley has been a Hawke’s Bay pipfruit grower since 1987 and is a shareholder in an export Packhouse. She was also a grower of summerfruit for some 10 years until 1997. Lesley holds a Bachelor of Science (in Zoology) as well as post graduate papers in Integrated Fruit Production and Business Communications. She has been a member of the Institute of Directors since 2015. She is a former President of the Hawke’s Bay Fruitgrowers’ Association and a past Chair of the Hawke’s Bay Fruitgrowers’ Charitable Trust and Vice Chair of the Hawke’s Bay Labour Governance Group. She has served on a range of advisory committees, including the Prevar Advisory Group, T.A.N.K. (a Hawkes Bay Regional Council water catchment stakeholder advisory group), the National Horticultural Field Day group and the Australian Apple Access Group. She takes a leadership role in the issues affecting horticulture and enjoys working with people for the betterment of the industry. HEA board member since November 2018—replaced Lindsay Wells.

Craig Hall – Exporter representative

Craig has been involved in sales and marketing of fresh produce since the mid-1990s, first with the NZ Apple and Pear Board (ENZA Fresh) for the domestic market. In 1995 Frucor Produce separated off from ENZA Fresh and Craig led the procurement and sales strategy of diversified products. In 1998 he joined Freshco Ltd, as an Export Product Manager, in 2000 transferring with Freshco to Rotterdam, Holland for three years. Freshco was then the largest exporter of Apples and Kiwifruit under Collaborative arrangements with ENZA and Zespri. Over 11 years at Freshco, he was involved in exporting a wide variety of fresh NZ products to international markets. In late 2009 Craig formed horticultural export company RD8 Ltd, which has since transformed into the RD8 Fresh Produce Group with four different companies RD8, Fresh Berry Co Ltd, Hoddys Fruit Co and BerryFarms NZ Ltd. Craig remains the Managing Director of the RD8 group. He is also involved in industry bodies including as Chairman of Summerfruit Exporters Committee, Director of Summerfruit NZ, Executive member of Horticultural Exporters Committee and of Blueberries NZ. HEA board member since January 2022—replaced Mick Ahern.

Duane Wells – Horticulture New Zealand nominee

Duane is a proud second-generation horticulturist having grown up, and still living, on the family persimmon orchard north of Whangarei. Having attained a Bachelor of Management Studies focusing on International Marketing and Management Communication he became the Managing Director of NTL Horticulture in 2005 to drive the company’s involvement in persimmon export production, packing and marketing, commercial avocado post-harvest operation, and commercialising unique horticultural based value added products for domestic and export markets. Duane has been the Chair of the New Zealand Persimmon Industry Council since 2010 and the Chair of the NZ Avocado Packers Forum since 2020. He is the past Chair of the Northland Horticultural Forum, assessor for the NZ sustainable Farming Fund, and is currently the horticultural liaison to Northtec International Student department. Duane has developed a passion for efficient strategic direction for all stakeholders in the value chain. HEA board member since January 2022—replaced Andrew Fenton.

Amy Tocker – government appointee

Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Maniapoto

Amy owns and operates her own Tauranga based consultancy company Ko Tāua Ltd, and is the General Manager for Māori Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated. Amy has been working in the kiwifruit industry since 2013, most recently working for Zespri International as the Māori & Community Relations Manager and has in-depth knowledge and understanding of the kiwifruit industry spanning the entire supply chain through offshore markets to consumers. In her time at Zespri, Amy coordinated the establishment of the Māori Kiwifruit Growers forum and led multiple Māori grower delegations into global markets throughout Asia, Americas, Europe and the Middle East. Amy has owned and operated businesses in the hospitality sector since 2004 and has an established network from those experiences. Amy replaced Stephanie Honey as the Government appointee from 1 October 2023.