Our Leadership

Grant joined Synlait as CEO in January 2022. He was previously CEO of dairy company, Miraka. Prior to Miraka, Grant spent 10 years at Fonterra where he held several senior roles including Director of Global Foodservice, Managing Director of Tip Top, and Director of Route and Foodservice Fonterra Brands New Zealand. Prior to Fonterra, Grant built his executive career at McDonalds New Zealand to become Chief Operating Officer. He has also held several governance and directorship roles for private and publicly listed companies.

Robert joined Synlait in 2007. He held several senior roles in the finance, business transformation and supply chain teams before being appointed General Manager, Supply Chain in 2017. He took on the role of CFO in May 2021. Prior to joining Synlait, Robert held senior finance positions in New Zealand and the UK at Duns Limited, Transport for London, PlaneStation Group, Royal Sun Alliance, and Liberty Syndicates. Robert was the recipient of a Prime Ministers scholarship in 2017 to study the Advanced Management Program at INSEAD in France and is a member of the Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, Robert also holds a Bachelor of Commerce in accounting and a Graduate Diploma in finance from the University of Otago.

Tim Carter is the CEO of Dairyworks, which he joined in 2018. Synlait purchased Dairyworks in 2018 as part of its strategy to build a consumer dairy business. Tim now holds the joint role of Synlait Director of Consumer / Dairyworks CEO. He has over 20 years of experience in the FMCG and dairy sectors. Before Dairyworks, Tim spent most of his time at Fonterra, where he held senior roles, including Director, Sales Fonterra Brands NZ, Director, Sales Fonterra Australia, General Manager, Foodservice and Route Fonterra Brands, and General Manager, Sales Tip Top Ice Cream.

Nigel joined Synlait in November 2021. He has led operations, manufacturing, and supply chain teams in the areas of infant nutrition, fast moving consumer goods, and ingredients in New Zealand, the Middle East, and Latin America. Previously he was the General Manager, Manufacturing at Baladna Food Industries, Qatar’s leading dairy company, and prior to this, Nigel was Head of Supply Chain – Infant Nutrition, and Head of Manufacturing – Dairy and Juice at Almarai, the world’s largest vertically integrated dairy company. Nigel has a Bachelor of Engineering in Chemical and Process Engineering from the University of Canterbury and holds a Certificate in Leadership Development from IMD in Switzerland.

Suzan joined Synlait in 2018. Prior to Synlait, she was Director Quality Affairs, Business Group Europe, the Middle East and Africa for FrieslandCampina. She held other senior roles after joining them in 2005, including Director Corporate QA, crisis and issue management and Corporate Quality Assurance Manager. Suzan has also worked for Nutreco B V and was a lecturer in agricultural economics and food safety earlier in her career. Suzan holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics and a Bachelor of Science in Animal Husbandry from the Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands.

Dahlia started at Synlait in 2018 as Quality and Compliance Manager and was Head of Quality Transformation when appointed Acting Director of People & Culture in February 2023.

Dahlia has worked in various Supply Chain and Quality Leadership roles across her career and has a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce, majoring in Human Resource Management and Operations Management. She is a certified Gallup Strengths Coach and Quality Auditor and brings a strong understanding of the business to this role.

Adam initially joined Synlait’s Dairyworks business in 2018 as GM, Marketing and Sales. In 2021, Adam joined Synlait as Head of Ingredients and was promoted to the executive team as Director of Ingredients in August 2022. Adam has had an extensive career in the FMCG sector in New Zealand and internationally, as well as working in the business-to-Business commodity export and technology industries. Before joining Dairyworks and Synlait, Adam’s career highlights included General Manager, Canon Consumer Imaging (NZ), and General Manager Marketing and Innovation at Independent Liquor and Boundary Road Brewery

Paul has a deep breadth of experience across multiple industries and roles. He has a track record for developing and growing partnerships in multiple fields including business transformation, performance delivery, FMCG and Business to Business sales and innovation, strategy development and implementation, partnership development, and major event management. Paul was previously General Manager Sales & Marketing Disruption Platforms at Fonterra. Paul spent 12 years with Fonterra in a variety of roles before joining Synlait in January 2023.

Charles started with Synlait in February 2023. He was previously Regional Head of Farm Source: Canterbury Tasman Marlborough at Fonterra. Before that, Charles worked for KPMG, Goldman Sachs, Deloitte, and BP in various finance-based roles across New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom before joining Fonterra in 2010. During Charles’ time at Fonterra, he initially worked in finance as Group Financial Planning Manager and GM Commercial, Global Brands & Nutrition before joining the Farm Source team in 2016.

Naiche is a seasoned business executive, with almost 20 years of international dairy industry experience. He has held various roles within the New Zealand and Australian dairy industries and brings a wealth of experience in developing and managing strategic business to business partnerships across Latin American, European, African, the Middle East and Asian markets.

Naiche was previously General Manager of Global Quick Service Restaurants, managing Fonterra’s partnerships with the world’s most recognised multinational restaurant brands, including McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Burger King, Domino’s, and others, before joining Synlait in January 2023.

Simon was appointed to the Synlait Board in November 2020 and elected as Chair in December 2022

He is a professional director with extensive commercial experience, including 10 years with Auckland International Airport (AIAL) during a period of significant investment and strategic growth. As CFO for AIAL, he led the finance, accounting, business technology and procurement functions along with investor relations and regulatory affairs. Simon has a proven track-record in strategy and capital-intensive infrastructure investment. He is also a Director of Ballance, Alliance Group, and previously served on the boards of Independent Timber Merchants, Apata Group, Flick Energy and North Queensland Airports.

Dr Gui Min (Gracie) is currently the Director of Marketing of Nutrition Section at Bright Dairy.

Gracie has a Ph.D. in pharmacology from Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and National Public Dietitian Level-I.

She has more than 10 years of experience in research and product development and marketing in nutrition, functional food, and related fields.

Min was appointed a director of Synlait Milk in December 2021.

Min joined Bright Dairy in 2007 as senior Finance Manager, responsible for budget planning, data analysis and business evaluation.

Since 2016, she has been Chief Internal Auditor of Bright Dairy, reporting to the company’s Audit Committee Chair and Board of Directors.

Paul joined the Synlait Board in January 2022.  He has extensive dairy sector experience and is currently Deputy Chair of AsureQuality, Chair of BVAQ Australia, and a Non-Executive Director of Waikato Milking Systems.

Paul previously held several executive roles including, CEO of Tatua Co-operative Dairy Company Limited, CEO of HortResearch, and Managing Director, Fonterra (Europe).

John co-founded the Synlait Group in 2000 and was a full-time executive for the Synlait Group from 2006 to 2018. As CEO of Synlait, John was responsible for setting the strategic direction of the company and supporting management to perform against the strategy. In November 2018 John was appointed as a Board Appointed Director of Synlait. As Managing Director, he contributed to the governance of Synlait. In May 2021 he was appointed Acting CEO and held that position until January 2022 when stepped into the role of Chair. Dr Penno stepped down as Chair in December 2022.

John chairs the Pure Food Co. Limited and is a Director of Okuora Holdings Limited, Thorndale Dairies Limited and Leaft Foods Limited. He is also Chair of the Fresh Water Leaders Group reporting to Ministers Parker and O’Connor.

In 2009, John received an emerging leader’s award from the Sir Peter Blake Trust and the Excellence in Leadership award at the 2015 New Zealand International Business Awards.

A professional company director, Ruth specialises in agribusiness, commercialising innovation and finance. Ruth joined the Synlait Group as the first independent Director in 2004.

Ruth was the Member of Parliament for Selwyn (Synlait’s local electorate) from 1981 – 1984 and later New Zealand’s Minister of Finance from 1990 to 1993.

Following her political career, Ruth established herself as a public policy consultant and accepted a range of corporate governance roles. Ruth is currently Chair of The New Zealand Merino Company and the Kula Fund Advisory Committee.

She is a Director of Synlait Milk Limited, Synlait Milk Finance Limited and the Bank of China (NZ).

Previous governance roles include Dairy Brands, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, SYFT Technologies Limited, Kiwinet and Wrightson Limited.

Ruth holds a Bachelor of Laws (with honours) from the University of Canterbury.

Paul joined the board as a director in December 2022.

Paul is a senior executive with extensive experience
in planning and operations, finance, and information
technology. He is Chief Financial Officer for ASXlisted
Pact Group. Before this, Paul spent 17 years
with Fonterra. He was the Acting CFO of Fonterra
Co-Operative Group Limited for seven months before
moving to Shanghai as Chief Financial Officer of
Fonterra’s Greater China business, responsible for
Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan across the
Consumer, Foodservice, Ingredients and China farming
businesses.

Sihang was appointed a Director of Synlait Milk in August 2010.

With over 20 years of industry experience, he is Bright Dairy and Food Co.’s director of strategy and research and a director of several Bright Dairy subsidiaries.

Sihang previously worked for Heilongjiang Dairy Group as the Director of technology and subsequently as the director of quality assurance. He was later appointed the secretary-general of Heilongjiang Dairy Industry Association and a Director of China Dairy Industry Association.

Sihang is currently a Director of Synlait Milk Limited and Synlait Milk Finance Limited.

Sihang holds a Masters Degree in food science and engineering.