KEY POINTS:
International experience and a passion for customers were the key drivers behind the appointment yesterday of Tim Miles as managing director of PGG Wrightson, says chairman Craig Norgate.
Current chief executive Barry Brook will stay at the rural services company as group general manager South America, letting former Vodafone boss Miles formally take the reigns as managing director in March.
Norgate said Miles had a strong reputation of engaging with customers and then driving a customer-centric business culture. "Among other things, he has a deep understanding of the impact of technology on business, a theme that is becoming progressively more important in agriculture," Norgate said.
Miles also had a high level of international management experience, he said. "These attributes are closely aligned to PGG Wrightson's strategy and aspirations."
PGG Wrightson created NZ Farming Systems Uruguay - which lists on the stock market today.
Norgate said an appointment had been expected at some point but was a bit sooner than anticipated due to the availability of Miles. "We've always had an understanding with Barry that he would deliver what we were looking for post merger in terms of consolidation of the business and getting it to perform."
The group was on track to meet the year's performance targets, he said.
Miles' time at Vodafone included positions as chief executive for New Zealand, Britain and chief technology officer for the group. He returned to this country a year ago after two years in Britain, since then he has been non-executive director of Goodman Property Trust and chairman of Equity Partners Media and Communication. "The thing that really I get excited about are dealing with customers and people and quite often I think businesses get a bit over-complicated," Miles said.
" ... if you understand what your customers want and you've got a great group of people and you motivate them to do the right thing for the customers then your business is successful financially more often than not."
Shares closed up 2c yesterday at 193c.
Tim Miles
* Age: 50
2008 Managing director PGG Wrightson
2007 Consultancy/non executive director
2001-06 Vodafone Group
1994-01 Unisys
1987-94 Data General Corporation
1980-87 IBM New Zealand
1979-1980 Harrisons & Crossfield
1978-1979 ICI New Zealand
