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Executive Committee
President – Andrew Taylor
forty.groves@paradise.net.nz
On a personal note, I have grown horticultural crops such as avocados, kiwifruit, pipfruit and summerfruit for nearly 30 years. In the last 10 years I have provided horticultural advice, harvesting and pruning contract services to the olive industry and now work full time with olives in much of the North Island. I live on a 53 ha organic property just outside of Napier with my wife and two children where we grow olives, apples and graze stock.
I believe a strong Olives New Zealand organisation can provide a platform to enable technical transfer, benchmarking of performance and cohesion on all matters to do with the production of olive products in New Zealand. An additional parameter that I believe is necessary is that Olives New Zealand should drive the promotion of the quality and the virtues of our products.
Vice – President - John Arthur
john@matapiro-olives.com
 After careers in accountancy and business, most recently in retail, I retired at an early age.
Realizing that the grove I was developing in Taranaki would not be a commercial enterprise I came across and acquired " Matapiro ". The grove consists of 72 hectares ( 6 of which are owned by a third party ) is home to 17,500 olive trees which will be increased to about 20,000 during the 2009 and 2010 planting seasons. The grove will produce up to 100,000 litres of EVOO per annum at full production.
Our aims at Matapiro are to be significant Brand owners in the New Zealand supermarket, specialty stores and hospitality markets together with exporting, whilst maintaining the quality standards as set down by Olives New Zealand. We will continue to ensure that our EVOO's are subject to the awards processes of ONZ, where to date Matapiro has received numerous awards.
In February 2009, I was invited onto the Hawkes Bay branch of ONZ.
Executive Officer - Lesley Wilson
Ph: +64 (0)6 8771 447
Mob: +64 (0)21 898 795
Fax: +64 (0)6 8443 166
email: admin@olivesnz.org.nz
PO Box 7464, Taradale 4141
Hawke's Bay, New Zealand
I have been living in the beautiful Dartmoor Valley growing apples for over 20 years. During this time my husband Des managed the blocks while I worked with various with companies helping them get their ‘stuff’ done.
In 2003 I set up Talk Limited, Talk’s motto is ‘turning ideas into action’. Talk has project managed the New Zealand Apples to Australia campaign, set-up New Zealand’s first Horticultural Trade Expo ‘ICE’ and helped many other businesses, organisations and people achieve their goals. During this time I also established myself as a freelance writer and have been published in all the major horticultural and agricultural magazines and newspapers, and more recently I have been published in North and South and Unlimited Magazine.
For fun I enjoy 4x4ing, I spend a lot of time with the HB Rowing Club supporting my children and I read.
I am excited about working with the Olive Industry, there are many keen and enthusiastic people who believe in their product and I look forward to meeting you all.
Treasurer - Graham Keen
gkeen@xtra.co.nz
After a career as Company Accountant, Financial Controller, and International Marketing Manager in that order I have now retired from gainful employment as such.
Since 1998 I have been occupied as an olive grower, consultant and processor based in the Ohoka area of North Canterbury.
I am Secretary of the Canterbury Region and was seconded to the Olives New Zealand Executive in September 2006 to champion the NZ Gap Programme. I was elected Treasurer for Olives New Zealand in September 2007.
I purchased my first olive grove of 530 odd trees in the Ohoka area that was part of a development in the area. I was one of the first growers to accept and realise that Barnea was not a suitable variety for the area, which suffered from very cold southerly winds and resuting severe frosts. Frantoio, Leccino and Pendolinos were the replacements of choice. The area is very marginal for olive growing.
In 2002 I developed my existing grove of 1800 Tuscan variety trees. The first harvest was of 1.2 tonnes in 2006, but poor pollination and frosts wiped out the 2007 harvest.
I became the first NZ Olive Grower to achieve Veg Fed Approved Supplier (now NZ GHAP) status in 2004.
With another grower I imported an Enorossi Hydraulic Press System with a 250kg/hr capability. Subsequently we added an additional identical second hand press (the original Ponder press) which complemented the first and took capacity to double that making more effective use of the very efficient malaxer.
Two additional shareholders were added late in 2006 and the plant is now operated under the name of Canterbury Olive Processors Ltd pressing Olives from Marlborough through to Central Otago on contract. A Food safety Programme has been lodged with Crown Public Health.
Roger Armstrong - Nelson
beulaholives@xtra.co.nz
I arrived from Australia in 1974 and began a career in horticulture in the Nelson Apple industry.
Looking for diversification away from apples I entered the olive industry in 1996 with our first order of olive trees from Blenheim arriving 1997. I formed our company Tasman Bay Olives Ltd with two close friends and during the next few years planted a total of 12,000 trees.We installed a Pegaso 500 in 2002 which has been my responsibility for the company.
I have also been developing harvesting machines with an engineering background gained over the years in operating an apple packhouse.
I have been a member of the local Nelson Olives New Zealand group since its inception in 1997 and elected Chairman 2 years ago.
I look forward to being a part of a leadership that has fresh commitment and determination to see this industry become a permanent and successful part of the New Zealand Horticultural Story.
Steve Clark – Central Otago
steveclark@callsouth.net.nz
Phone 03 445 0920
At the conclusion of a long career in the fertiliser industry, my wife Anna and I purchased a block of bare land near Bannockburn in Central Otago. While Anna continued her career as Head of Arts at St Hildas Collegiate our son and I set about establishing an olive grove. Our first planting was of 560 Frantoio, Leccino and Pendolino trees. A second planting of the same varieties followed two years later together with a small number of Kalamata, Picholine and Uovo di Piccione for table olive production. In total we have just under 1,000 trees, but we also planted and manage a 500 tree grove for a neighbour.
In 2001 we commissioned the first commercial press in Central Otago to process our own olives and to provide contract pressing services to other growers. This press was an Oliomio 50 which has served us very well but which was replaced for the 2008 harvest with an Oliomio 150.
I am currently Chair of Central Otago Olive Growers and following the 2007 AGM I am now a member of the Olives NZ Executive, in which position I am responsible for overseeing the Olives NZ website and producing the e-Newsletter.
Ian Juno - Wairarapa
juno-olives@xtra.co.nz
Phone: 64 6 304 8895
Mobile : 64 21 296 0110
Web : www.juno-olives.co.nz
 In July 2001 my wife and I established Juno Olives on 16.5 acres of stoney soil on State Highway 2 Greytown South in the Wairarapa. We have since planted 1700 trees; 8 varieties - classic Italian, Spanish, French and Greek origin.
In 2008 we received a Silver Award for our Frantoio/Leccino blend.
We are currently working towards NZGAP Certification.
In December 2008 we established a shop on our grove; “Everything Olive”, where we sell our olive oil and a variety of other olive products produced in the Wairarapa, soaps, infused oils, table olives, desert olives, olive leaf tea, jams, and tapenades.
For the past 4 years I have served on the Wairarapa Olive Association and in April 2008 I was elected as the Chairman. I am also the Wairarapa Regional Chair representative for ONZ. At the ONZ Conference in October 2008 I was elected as a Regional Representative on the ONZ Executive. I am currently on the Conference Sub Committee.
I work full time in Wellington for a Government Department where my current role is Project Manager for the implementation of an Electronic Data Records Management System (eDRMS).
Ross Legh - Olivetti
Parkhill@xtra.co.nz
Phone: +64 9 3741460
Mobile: +64 21 995421
 I am a Professional Engineer, Director, Board Member and owner of Norman Disney & Young, an International group of Consulting Engineers with offices in New Zealand, Australia, and the UK. My prime responsibility is for the operation of the New Zealand offices. As such my expertise is both Engineering and Management at senior levels.
I have established in Northland, a grove and a contract processing company “The Olive Place Ltd”. We have leading edge technologies in the design of the building and processing plant. Some of the technologies include NIR Analyzers – which provide analysis of Olives for % Oil and Moisture content, olive waste for Oil content, and analysis of Olive Oils. This allows us to advise growers on optimum harvest times, and to monitor and fine tune the efficiency of our processing plant.
We liaise closely with Alfa Laval, and have extensively modified the plant to suit the New Zealand conditions.
Chris Moore - Canterbury
the_olive_grove@clear.net.nz
Aged 60, married to Annette for 35 years with 2 adult children and a grandson. Passionate sportsman with a love of rugby, cricket and golf. Keen gardener.
We live in Robinsons Bay (located on Banks Peninsula) where we run a bed and breakfast and an olive grove of around 1,000 fifteen year old olive trees and have completed 4 harvests. We market our extra virgin olive oils, infused oils and olives under our Robinsons Bay brand and sell through various retails outlets in Canterbury, the Canterbury Farmners Market and our own tasting room.
Prior to being involved in the olive industry I worked for Fonterra for over 20 years and held various Chief Executive positions in New Zealand and overseas in Fonterra's consumer business with a track record of significantly improving company performance and increasing shareholder value.
I am passionate about the NZ olive industry and
I belive in the objectives of Olives New Zealand
I believe in the Certification Programme and the ONZ mark
I believe in the Approved Supplier Programme
I am disappointed in the events that took place in the recent past and the impact that it had on our members and our industry. We need to put that behind us and get back to building a strong future for our world class extra virgin olives oils.
David Walshaw - Kapiti
david@walshaw.com
My ambition for New Zealand's olive oil industry is to have the true meaning of "extra virgin olive oil" understood by New Zealanders and what the quality of our oils means in terms of health giving properties and great tastes. Top this end I will be endeavouring to promote our "qualmark" red sticker as a point of difference frrom other imported so-called extra virgin olive oils.
After a 30 year career in banking, both here and overseas, I spent 12 years building a personal investment and financial advisory business which I sold a few years ago so I could grow olives and make great olive oil.
My wife Helen and I have a 2,050 tree grove at Te Horo on the Kapiti Coast. We are also shareholders with Chris and Graeme Harris in Kapiti Olives Ltd.
I am happy to represent members of the olive community as chairman of ONZ - Kapiti Olive Group and on the Executive of Olives NZ. I especially want to see NZ Extra Virgin Olive Oil take its rightful place with NZ consumers. Why would New Zealanders want any other oil?
Regional Representatives
Roger Armstrong
Ian Juno
David Walshaw
To contact an Regional representative or any of the Executive email info@olivesnz.org.nz
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