Last month, Kiwifruit marketer Zespri announced Jason Te Brake as its new chief executive. Te Brake grew up in the Waikato, so Waikato Herald editor Dean Taylor has taken a trip down memory lane.
For me it doesn’t seem that long ago Jason Te Brake was a tall skinny kid from Arohena running around Albert Park with my son Ryan for a Te Awamutu Sport junior rugby side.
With his dad Alfons coaching and mum Heather on the sideline giving support, Jason and a bunch of his Arohena mates teamed up with a few of the local kids and made a pretty good young team.
That was back in Years 7 and 8 days for the youngsters. Then Jason headed off to Hamilton Boys’ High School and down the path of chartered accounting and finance.
It seems the lure of agriculture remained and that path has led to the announcement that Te Brake will take over the reins of Zespri as its new chief executive officer from July 1.
Outgoing CEO Daniel Mathieson is leaving Zespri to join Driscoll’s, leaving the Kiwifruit company to undertake an extensive international search for a new CEO.
Zespri chairman Nathan Flowerday announced that Zespri’s chief operating officer Jason Te Brake had emerged as the best candidate.
Te Brake first joined Zespri in 2020 and has held several roles including chief global supply officer, head of New Zealand supply and commercial manager.
Before joining Zespri he held commercial, sales and marketing, and finance roles at KPMG, AFFCO, ANZCO Foods and Miraka.
“Jason is an outstanding executive with the strong commercial and stakeholder management experience we were looking for,” said Flowerday.
“He has a clear strategic vision to help Zespri and the industry achieve its immense potential and the operational expertise to ensure we do so.
“He has done an outstanding job of leading our global supply chain and the New Zealand supply business as our COO and has also delivered exceptional results based on detailed planning and execution as the industry responded to the recent quality challenges and then reset to deliver a record crop this year.
“There is a significant and growing demand for Zespri Kiwifruit which will add real value to our industry and communities. Zespri has a strong strategy in place as we pursue that, with Jason able to provide the vision and continuity as well as the knowledge of our industry to deliver on that.”
In the 2023/2024 season, Zespri supplied 164.2 million trays of kiwifruit to consumers in more than 50 markets, recording a global operating revenue of $4.21 billion.
Soon-to-be Zespri chief executive officer Jason Te Brake.
Te Brake says the opportunity to lead Zespri is an honour.
“I am hugely passionate and energised about the opportunities for the industry and it’s a real honour and privilege to be able to lead Zespri,” he said.
“The kiwifruit industry has an outstanding track record of success, off the back of quality people, a world-class product and strategy, and a commitment to innovating and tackling challenges together.
“It is one of New Zealand’s great success stories and I am incredibly fortunate to be following in the footsteps of, and working alongside, some of the industry’s outstanding leaders.
“My focus will be on leading the Zespri team to capture the significant demand opportunities in the market, on strengthening our supply chain and operational performance to maximise value in the market, and on ensuring we return as much of that value back to growers as possible.
“I’d like to thank Nathan and the board for the faith they have shown in me and also thank Dan for his guidance and mentorship.”
In 2017 Te Brake showed his leadership potential, being announced as the youngest recipient ever to receive the prestigious Emerging Primary Industries Scholarship.
The scholarship is a partnership between the Ministry for Primary Industries, in conjunction with AGMARDT and the Te Hono Movement and is a prestigious accolade for young leaders.
The purpose of the scholarship is to recognise those leaders who demonstrate the best potential to make a difference as a senior leader in the primary industries, and to support their continuing professional development and is designed to enhance innovation, value add, and leadership across the primary industries.
At the time Te Brake had been a board member of NZ Young Farmers for four years and was the organisation’s chairman, displaying outstanding governance leadership in a period of change.
He was also a graduate of the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme.
Then NZ Young Farmers CEO Terry Copeland said the scholarship reinforced the significant role the organisation plays in providing tomorrow’s leaders in the Primary Industry.
Dean Taylor is a community journalist with more than 35 years of experience and is editor of the Te Awamutu Courier and Waikato Herald.
