The purpose of the Executive Committee is to oversee the management of the CRC to ensure that Programs comply with the objectives of the CRC, that co-operation of the communication between Programs is maintained and liaison with the Commonwealth is consistent. The committee includes the Management Team and Program Leaders plus two External Members (one from AWI and one from MLA).
Professor James Rowe
Chief Executive Officer
Sheep CRC Ltd
Phone: 02 6773 1317
Email: jrowe@une.edu.au
Professor James Rowe holds a PhD in animal nutrition. His research on sheep and cattle production has resulted in a number of new products and innovative feeding systems. He has worked in the public sector (Department of Agriculture & Food, WA) with international organisations, large private sector companies and at the University of New England. In 2002 he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Sheep Industry CRC and currently holds the position of CEO with Sheep CRC Ltd.
Stephen Potts
Chief Financial Officer/Company Secretary
Sheep CRC Ltd
Phone: 02 6773 2762
Email: spotts@une.edu.au
Stephen Potts is the CRC CFO and Company Secretary. He holds a degree in International Finance, is a CPA and is undertaking a Graduate Diploma in Applied Corporate Governance. He is experienced across a range of industries incorporating hospitality, insolvency, mining and agricultural research, during which time he has held management, finance, accounting, commercial, governance and community focused roles. Prior to joining the CRC Stephen worked for a number of years for a major multinational company in its corporate, asset and project divisions, gaining broad regional, national and international experience.
Dr Andrew Thompson
Program 1 Leader - Transforming sheep and their management
Dept of Agriculture & Food, Western Australia
Phone: 0437 316 117
Email: andrew.thompson@agric.wa.gov.au
Dr Andrew Thompson studied Agricultural Science at the University of WA and completed a PhD in Wool Science at the University of Adelaide. Over the last 20+ years he has worked on a range of wool and lamb production projects. He has experience in leadership and science management at a National level, including leadership of the National ‘Lifetime Wool’ project which developed new guidelines for managing ewes and their progeny to increase whole farm profits and improve animal welfare. Andrew is employed by DAFWA and is Program 1 Leader with the Sheep CRC. He is closely involved in new research related to maternal efficiency and methane production and adoption of strategies to improve reproduction efficiency.
David Tester
Program 2 Leader - Wool Quality
Sheep CRC/AWI
Phone: 0434 600 164
Email: winebank@bigpond.com
David Tester was a senior scientist at the CSIRO Division of Wool Technology and in a 17 year career completed research relevant to much of the wool processing pipeline. In later years at CSIRO his work focused on commercialisation and technology transfer of R&D outcomes to the wool textile industry in the northern hemisphere as well as Australia. In 1996 he left CSIRO and went into wool textile production as technical director and general manager of a wool textile mill in England. David returned to Australia in 2000 to join Macquarie Textiles, Australia’s largest vertical wool textile mill before joining the Sheep CRC as Program Leader of the Wool Program in December 2008.
Professor Dave Pethick
Program 3 Leader - Meat Quality
Murdoch University
Phone: 08 9360 2246
Email: d.pethick@murdoch.edu.au
Professor Dave Pethick holds a PhD qualification from Cambridge University (UK) and an undergraduate Degree in Agricultural Science from the University of Adelaide. His research in fundamental and applied meat science in beef, lamb and sheepmeats has made a major contribution to the understanding of meat quality and its management. He is head of Production Animal Research at Murdoch University and is Program Manager for Meat Science in both the Beef and Sheep CRCs. Dave is employed by Murdoch and is Program Leader of the Meat Program with the CRC.
Professor Julius van der Werf
Program 4 Leader - Information Nucleus
University of New England
Phone: 02 6773 2092
Email: julius.vanderwerf@une.edu.au
Professor Julius van der Werf holds an undergraduate degree in Animal Science, and an MSc and PhD (1990) in Animal Breeding from Wageningen Agricultural University in the Netherlands. After appointments as Assistant Professor in Wageningen, and Senior Researcher in dairy cattle breeding at the National Institute for Animal Science and Health, Julius moved to the University of New England (Armidale, NSW) in 1997, first as Senior Lecturer and now as Professor in Animal Breeding and Genetics. He teaches animal genetics subjects and has supervised 43 postgraduate students. He has also delivered several postgraduate courses overseas. His research topics vary from genetic evaluation and breeding program design to detection and use of genomic information. Julius is employed by UNE and is Program 4 Leader with the CRC.
Professor Steve Walkden-Brown
Program 5 Leader - Education and training
University of New England
Phone: 02 6773 5152
Email: swalkden@une.edu.au
Professor Steve Walkden-Brown is currently a Professor in Animal Health and Production at the University of New England. He graduated in Veterinary Science from the University of Queensland in 1981. At the end of 1995 he took up a lectureship at the University of New England teaching sheep production and animal health. He has continued teaching in these areas, including involvement in the education programs of the Premium Quality Wool CRC and the previous Australian Sheep Industry CRC. Steve also has research interests in sustainable parasite control in sheep.
Jane Littlejohn
Head On Farm RDE
Australian Wool Innovation Limited
Phone: 02 8295 3100
Email: jane.littlejohn@wool.com
Dr Jane Littlejohn holds a Bachelor of Veterinary Science and Masters in Veterinary Public Health Management from the University of Sydney. Jane's role with AWI is to manage animal health and welfare investment and coordinate projects across on farm research, development and extension. Jane's experience includes sheep production in South East NSW as a producer and a District Veterinarian, and agricultural policy development.
Dr Alex Ball
Manager, Lamb & Sheep Meats R&D
Meat & Livestock Australia Limited
Phone: 02 6773 2493
Email: aball@mla.com.au
Dr Alex Ball holds a Bachelor of Rural Science Hons (1) and PhD from University of New England. Alex has been employed with Meat & Livestock Australia since 1997 and is the current Manager of Lamb and Sheepmeats R&D. This role looks at all aspects of sheep production research in Australia. Alex was, until this year, Manager of Sheep Genetics, which includes the operation of LAMBPLAN and MERINOSELECT. Alex is also currently a wool and beef producer in the New Valley district of Guyra NSW.
