Your Team
Behind every great team are some key drivers
Adele is an experienced National Business Development Manager with a demonstrated history working in the Agribusiness and FMCG industry. Having spent her career working in both the private and not-for-profit sectors, most recently leading an agribusiness market accelerator program as well as working alongside food and beverage producers and ag start-ups to commercialise their product offering, Adele has considerable business experience at all stages of scale and growth.
Adele's enthusiasm for agriculture can be attributed to a childhood growing up on a farm in Northern Rivers, NSW.
Adele brings a broad range of experience into her new role of Chief Executive Officer for Future Farmers Network and is looking forward to making an impact through her new position by connecting with more of rural and regional Australia, and supporting young farmers to stay connected, informed and engaged so we can collaboratively build a sustainable and impactful future of agriculture.
Caitlin is a Senior Associate at Clayton Utz, with experience in agribusiness, commercial litigation and restructuring and insolvency.
Caitlin is also a sixth-generation grazier, whose passion for agriculture stems from her work on her family's historical property, which produces beef cattle in Toogoolawah, Queensland. Her family is the oldest family business in Queensland, and one of the oldest in Australia. Caitlin works closely with her parents in respect of their operations at "Cressbrook", and she also represents the family as an historical spokesperson.
Alongside her professional pursuits, Caitlin is also an advocate for youth in agriculture and agribusiness, and mental health & wellness in the legal and agricultural sectors. She is currently a Director of the Royal Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland (RNA) Foundation, and a NonExecutive Director & Secretary of the Future Farmers Network. She has contributed in a great number of forums to topics on agriculture and agribusiness, as well as mental health and wellness.
Amelia Shaw is Policy Manager for GrainGrowers Ltd, managing the drought, agribusiness, and trade portfolios. Amelia currently holds Director roles on the YMCA of Brisbane and Y-Care SE QLD Boards. Amelia has significant experience in strategy development, marketing and partnerships as well as a comprehensive knowledge of the agricultural sector. Amelia is passionate about promoting young voices and ensuring young people are represented in conversations about the future of Australian agriculture..
Lachlan is a Senior Investment Associate for Laguna Bay, a specialist funds management firm focusing on deploying institutional capital into various agricultural industries. Lachlan’s primary role involves identifying investment opportunities for Laguna Bay’s funds, as well as assisting with the management of existing assets in our portfolio. Laguna Bay currently manages several assets spanning row crop, permanent crop, sheep, cattle, and dairy sectors.
Having grown up on his family cattle station in North-west Queensland, as well as working as a station hand across QLD and NT, Lachlan has an in-depth appreciation of what it is like to be involved in production agriculture.
Lachlan has completed a Bachelor of Agribusiness from Marcus Oldham and holds a Private Pilot’s licence for fixed wing aircraft. With this variety of experience, Lachlan hopes that he can bring a different agricultural perspective to the board and the various members.
Lauren is an Agribusiness Analyst working for AustOn Corporation, the Australian agriculture arm of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Her role involves assisting in the management of OTPP’s existing Australian assets as well as assessing new investment opportunities. Whilst she is currently based in Melbourne she is often travelling to various parts of rural Australia.
Lauren grew up on a cotton and grain farm on the Darling Downs as the first generation in her family to be born in Australia. She moved to Brisbane in 2013 to complete a dual degree in Science and Commerce at the University of Queensland before starting her career with PwC’s Mergers & Acquisitions team, specialising in the food and agribusiness sector. Her experience spans a wide range of industries, including horticulture, red meat production, ag-tech, broadacre cropping and aquaculture. Lauren is a full Chartered Accountant, having fulfilled all academic and professional requirements. She is a contributing member to the Royal Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland (RNA) Future Directions Committee and has led Brisbane’s Young Agribusiness Rural Network (‘YARN’) as President.
Lauren is a strong advocate for all things agriculture. With both huge opportunities and headwinds on the horizon, she believes it is critical to maintain the calibre of talent in our existing industry while ensuring young rural voices are heard. She hopes that her perspectives and skills provide some unique contributions to the FFN Board to further the networks, skills and opportunities for young people in and wanting to be part of agriculture in Australia.
Richard is a Chartered Accountant and Business Valuation Specialist with experience in financial advisory prior to entering the agribusiness sector in 2015. His passion for agribusiness stemmed from his experience at Craig Mostyn Group, a leading diversified and vertically integrated agribusiness in Western Australia. In his time at Craig Mostyn Group, Richard was involved in various projects across the supply chain including farm expansion, abattoir expansion, sales contract pricing and sales contract negotiation. This experience inspired Richard to enrol in a Master of Agribusiness at the University of Melbourne.
Richard now works at Mareterram Limited, a company created through the union of Craig Mostyn Groups food service division and NorWest Seafoods, a West Australian fishing company. Mareterram aspires to become a diversified agribusiness in which Richard plays an integral role as the mergers and acquisitions manager.
His belief that there is a large network of young people looking for a way to contribute to agriculture and the opportunity to further connect city and country is what has excited Richard about the opportunity to join the FFN Board. Richard is passionate about ensuring the voice of regional Australia and their agricultural communities are both heard and understood.
Samantha Noon is an experienced agricultural journalist and 2019 AMA Feature Writer of the Year Finalist, who grew up on a cattle and sheep station in Queensland where she first began her career with Rural Press, Fairfax Media.
Samantha draws upon years of cross-sectoral experience, including digital media, marketing and communications, brand strategy, business development and partnerships, and is currently undertaking her Masters in Sustainable Agriculture with Charles Sturt University. She has consulted for a range of Australia’s leading organisations and global brands, like American Express, Rabobank, Syngenta, Virbac, Qantas and NSW Farmers’ Association, to curate engaging content, married with data-driven insights to inform, connect and strengthen networks both within and external to agriculture.
Samantha now works remotely, from Inverell, Northern NSW, with AgriFutures Australia managing content production and development for the Agrifood Engagement programs in the lead up to the evokeAG 2022 event in Perth, WA. She loves bringing to life valuable stories of Australia’s agrifood champions, to help garner attention of key decision-makers, attract investment and accelerate agritech innovation within the Asia-Pacific region.
Will is currently an Agribusiness Manager for NAB in Northern Victoria, where he directly manages a portfolio of Small-Medium Enterprise Agribusiness groups, spanning across a wide range of industries from Broadacre cropping/livestock, to intensive Horticulture and Dairy.
Key skills are demonstrated in active risk management, financial judgement, cashflow analysis and relationship building. Prior to making the move to Victoria as a Manager, Will was part of the NAB Corporate Agribusiness team in Brisbane, where he started as an Agribusiness Analyst. Further to his professional experience at NAB, he has also had experience in Rural Valuations with Colliers International whilst completing his final years of study, where he holds a Bachelor of Business, Majoring in Real Estate and Development from the University of Queensland. Will’s drive to advance Australian Agriculture is founded from his upbringing as the 5th generation on a Beef Cattle property at Esk, in South East Queensland.
This exposure to Agriculture from a young age has established a strong passion for Will to immerse himself in initiatives that will fortify Australian Agriculture’s future sustainability and viability. He is committed to seeing future success as an industry and believes that building key relationships across multiple stakeholders, improving financial acumen and developing diverse skillsets are the most significant drivers to that effect.
Liberty is currently working as an Agribusiness Manager for the National Australia Bank (NAB) in Moree North Western, New South Wales. Her passion for agribusiness has stemmed from living remotely on a cattle and grain property in far western Queensland in her early informative years and then, working for a large corporate vertically integrated agribusiness and export company coupled with my agribusiness degree.
Prior to starting with the NAB, Liberty worked on large cattle stations in the Gulf of Carpentaria & Cape York Peninsula. She has since completed a bachelor’s degree of Agribusiness at Marcus Oldham College in Geelong, Victoria in 2020.
Liberty is always seeking out opportunities to grow her network, develop her skill set, and give back to like-minded people.
Tom is a solicitor at HopgoodGanim Lawyers and is currently rotating through the firm’s Planning and Environment section, working in planning litigation and environmental due diligence.
Tom is returning to the Intellectual Property and Technology team next year, where he has previous experience in IP asset protection and transactions, including working with a number of start-ups and ag tech companies. Tom also has a degree in journalism from QUT and is involved in his family’s commercial and seedstock Brahman herd in the Brisbane Valley. Tom is passionate about being curious and encouraging young people in agriculture to ask ‘why?’
Angus is a Private Wealth Adviser at Allegra Wealth, a boutique financial services firm located in the ACT. At Allegra, Angus advisers not for profit organisations and high to ultra-high net worth families. Allegra has a strong client base in the Riverina and Central West NSW and is responsible for over $440 million on behalf of their clients. Angus provides sophisticated financial advice that includes investment advice, tax structuring and intergenerational wealth management.
Prior to starting at Allegra Wealth, Angus worked for Boyce Financial Services, a subsidiary of Boyce Chartered Accountants. Angus was based in Wagga Wagga but frequently travelled across regional NSW, advising farming families how to invest and grow their off-farm assets to provide an immediate cash flow and diversification benefits and a longer-term purpose by helping facilitate succession planning and family wealth transfer. While in Wagga, Angus coached at the Wagga Waratahs Rugby Union club, coaching three consecutive grand finals and two premierships.
Originally from Dubbo, Angus attended the Shore School for six years. He studied at the Australian National University, where he now holds a Bachelor of Arts majoring in International Relations and History and a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Finance. Angus is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP), which is the highest designation in the financial planning industry.