High achiever gets just reward

A new award celebrating leadership, added to the annual Hawke’s Bay Primary Sector Awards this year, has been won by Justine Kidd.

Sponsored by Hastings District Council, the new Primary Industry Leader of the Year award celebrated “innovation and leadership at the highest level”, said Hastings District councillor and one of the judges of the award Tania Kerr.

The awards were presented at a function attended by a record 400 people on March 31.

On behalf of the judges, panel chairman Peter Tod said Kidd’s success as the chief executive of Hawke’s Bay dairy farming company Bel Group made her a true ambassador for the industry.

“Under her leadership the [business], which comprises nine dairy farms totalling 2700 ha milking 8800 cows, is delivering outstanding business results.

“But what truly shows why Justine is a great leader is how she acknowledges that this is not about her, but the strong team of people working around her,” he said.

Kerr said Kidd stood out on many levels, among them her commitment to mentoring young people entering the industry, and her implementation and success with her ‘Good, Better, Best’ programme, which gave the company’s 65 employees a structure to develop their skills.

“[The award] recognises her people skills, her leadership, and her innovation. She is a very high achiever,” Kerr said.

Kidd’s previous successes included winning the New Zealand Animal Society’s Young Scientist of the Year title in 1998, and being named Dairy Women of the Year, 2013.

Hastings mayor Lawrence Yule presented Kidd with her award.

He said the high calibre of the winners across all the categories reinforced that Hawke’s Bay was a “fantastic” place for primary industry operators; backing up Hastings District Council’s economic development programme:  “Great Things Grow Here”.

The initiative was launched last year in partnership with Business Hawke’s Bay.

“Great Things Grow Here not only refers to the richness of our earth but also to the remarkable people and businesses that harness our natural advantages to achieve great things. The 2015 primary industry awards bear that out,” Yule said.

The 2015 winners

• Hawke’s Bay Farmer of the Year (Silver Fern Farms,) Craig and Trish Sinclair
• Hawke’s Bay Primary Sector Industry Leader of the Year (Hastings District Council): Justine Kidd
• Hawke’s Bay Farm Forester of the Year (Pan Pac): Simon and Josie Beamish
• Hawke’s Bay A&P Scholarship (Lawson Robinson): Kahlia Fryer
• Laurie Dowling Memorial Award: Bruce Willis

For more information contact:

Diane Joyce
Senior Communications Manager
871 5000
dianej@hdc.govt.nz

4 October 2017

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