Chief executive Sarah Speight told the annual general meeting in Hamilton this month the network is an “influential voice in the dairy industry”. It represented thousands of women who were key decision makers and industry and community leaders.
DairyNZ remained the network’s prime funder, with BNZ the prime sponsor. Dairy Women’s Network Trust board chair Michelle Wilson says it has been a year of transition and growth with many achievements.
“The management team has grown from three to five part-time staff and we appointed Sarah Speight to the full-time chief executive role, the number of participants in our Dairy Days training increased by 100 more than last year, we held 112 regional group meetings – 47 more than the previous year, and we created the inaugural Dairy Woman of the Year Award which was won by Barbara Kuriger and sponsored by Fonterra,” she says.
Other highlights were new partnerships with AgITO and TBFree, more than 95,000 visits over the year to the network’s website and the addition of Robyn Judd, Sue Lindsay, Leonie Ward and Neal Shaw to its trust board.