View Full Profile Naomi O'Leary Area Manager (B.com Ag)
It was always my plan to work in the agricultural sector so I completed a Bachelor of Commerce in Agriculture majoring in Farm Management (B com Ag) at Lincoln University. However, like most new grads, once I had a degree under my belt, the question was how best to use it. That’s where the Fonterra Agribusiness Graduate Programme came in.
By joining the programme, I had an opportunity to learn all about the shareholder services part of Fonterra’s business, working for Milk Supply. This is the area of the business that works with our farmers to maintain strong supplier engagement and loyalty for our Co-op.
In my first rotation, I spent time with the Supplier Services Team as a Service Specialist. This was a very interesting role, as you are the first point of contact for our suppliers, assisting them with questions at an operational level. Then I was out on the road with our Area Managers – meeting our farmers, keeping them up-to-date with what’s happening in the Co-operative and helping them work out the best solutions for their farming businesses.
I completed the Graduate Programme in September 2010 and am now the Area Manager for Northern Southland. Every day I have the opportunity to interact with our farmers, the people that own our business. It’s a challenging, varied and extremely rewarding job and one that I absolutely love.
Fonterra is an amazing place to work, as there are fantastic support networks, you are constantly encouraged to grow and develop and there are so many great opportunities to work on a variety of projects.
I’ve enjoyed being part of the Co-op and would highly recommend Fonterra as an employer of choice.
View Full Profile Adam Jaidin Fonterra Brand Supply Chain Graduate (BCom Management, Management Science)
Before coming to Fonterra I studied at the University of Canterbury, doing a BCom in Management and Management Science.
I always loved leadership and interacting with people so Management was a perfect fit for this and I really enjoyed Management Science which gave me more of a quantitative view of businesses. So I was able to get a good overall picture of how businesses are run and I loved my time there!
Upon completing my degree I knew I had to find a job where I could take all the information I had learnt at University and put it to practical use and Fonterra was an obvious choice. It was such a large and well recognised organisation, both within NZ and abroad, with so many opportunities available and I felt that I could take what I had learnt and be able to apply it in so many different ways. I really liked the idea of the Fonterra Graduate Programme as it allowed me to be introduced into the “real” world at a good pace and enabled me to take all that I had learnt and apply it while still continuing my learning as well. I really liked the idea of being able to transfer around the various functions of the Supply Chain to gain a broader understanding of how everything interacts, as this would help me in the future, and being able to work in positions of responsibility and leadership from very early on was also very appealing.
These thoughts turned out to be true and my time on the Fonterra Graduate Programme was well spent as it provided me with the base depth, and understanding of the organisation to make the organisational moves that I have. It enabled me to move between the various Supply Chain functions, working in all positions of responsibility right from the shop floor to shift foreman, to ensure that I knew each function, and its workers, intimately.
Since this point in time, I have moved through a number of positions within the company and am currently the Freight and Depot Manager for Fonterra Brands. Essentially this position entails looking after a number of different responsibilities including having over 100 employees under me, a multimillion dollar budget to control, responsibility for several Distribution Centres and 50 milk depot sites throughout NZ, as well as being the relationship manager for all the domestic NZ freight providers used.
Whilst this may be a far cry from my original Graduate position, I know that the Graduate programme was instrumental in providing me with the opportunities, experience, and relationships required to make such a transition into this role and I look forward to continuing my experiences with Fonterra.
View Full Profile Jacqueline Murfitt
Jacqui graduated from Massey University, Palmerston North with a BTech (Food Technology) with first class Honours and Massey Scholar. She joined Fonterra in December 2008.
Jacqui says the FGTP course, which brings together graduates from different degrees and areas to pursue, has placed her in an excellent position to further her career at Fonterra.
View Full Profile Helen Riley Helen Riley – Ingredients Innovation Graduate (BSc(hons) Food Science, MDairySciTech)
When I had a dream about giant sheets of processed cheese during a summer internship with Fonterra I thought that perhaps my future career could be in the dairy industry. This came to fruition when during my final year at Otago University I applied for the Fonterra Graduate Technical Program (FGTP) and was selected.
The FGTP is run in collaboration with Massey University and results in a Master in Dairy Science and Technology on completion. The FGTP aims to provide both factory experience and theoretical knowledge to graduates so that we have a comprehensive understanding of Fonterra’s products, processes, systems, science, business structure, customers and competitors.
My favourite aspect of the technical graduate program was spending time in four of Fonterra’s major manufacturing sites. I spent time in Takanini (cultured foods plant), Whareroa (cream, AMF and butter), Edendale (milk powders) and Clandeboye (protein products). I got to work closely with the operators learning the process and met all sorts of amazing people who make Fonterra sites run. A few highlights include being at the official open day of the worlds biggest milk powder drier ED4 in Edendale, helping with the hoses and milk vats on milk pick ups with the tanker drivers at Whareroa, sitting in on concept research and development meetings for new products at Takanini and being apart of the winning Protein Team for the best stall at the Clandeboye open day.
The technical graduate program gave me such a widespread understanding of the diary industry. This has translated into an exciting transition into my ‘real job’ as an associate research technologist for Ingredients Innovation – Beverages. I’m currently part of a team that is developing new functional milk protein concentrates. I get to work with manufacturing plants and research scientists and technical experts who are world leaders in dairy science and innovation.
Fonterra’s technical graduate program has offered me a massive kick start into a growing and challenging industry. It has provided me with contacts throughout all of the Fonterra business as well as a unique insight into one of the world largest dairy exporters.
View Full Profile Lucy Wu Business Development Manager (BSc Hons - 1st Class, Food Science)
I was in the Fonterra Graduate Technical Programme (FGTP) in 2006 located in Te Rapa (Powders & Cream products), Hautapu (Protein & Cheese), Palmerston North, and Takanini. During the programme, I learnt about the industry as a whole, as well as the manufacturing processes.
Having completed a Bachelor of Science with Honours (1st class) degree from the University of Auckland majoring in Food Science, the FGTP was like no other… when else would you get to stand inside a milk powder drier?
The aspects of the FGTP that attracted me the most were meeting new people and the opportunities that follows. I was excited about applying what I have learnt in university to the workplace; the programme was a great bridge between gaining knowledge and applying that knowledge in the real world. The fact that the programme came with a Master’s degree was a bonus.
After the FGTP, I joined S&OP (now OTS) as a product mix analyst in my hometown Auckland, incorporating the technical knowledge and skills gained in the programme with dollar signs. Then I moved onto a more commercial role as Strategist in Commercial Forecasting & Strategy. In this role I looked at international market dynamics, developing trends in key markets, customer relationships etc. to formulate portfolio strategies for each of our key product groups.
An amazing opportunity was then offered to me to come up to the rapidly growing market of China and manage a few projects from the Shanghai office. Moving from Fonterra’s central operation to one of the markets was an eye-opener. In a short few months, I’d been in customer facing meetings, business partnership discussions, and I’ve even patted a newborn calf! Now I’m a Business Development Manager looking after several projects for the Foodservices sector of Fonterra’s China business—living and working in the fast-paced city of Shanghai.
View Full Profile Kirsty Davidson Graduate Technologist – Nutritional Products (BSc (Hons))
I first started with Fonterra in November 2008 when I did a Technology in Industry Fellowship (TIF) project at Tip Top, Fonterra Brands. This was a great introduction to the company and led in well to the Fonterra Graduate Training Programme (FGTP) which I started the next year, after my last year at University in 2009.
I studied at the University of Auckland, doing a Bachelor of Science with First Class Honours in Food Science.
The FGTP year is a great introduction into Fonterra and the various aspects of the business. For the first part of the year you spend time in the plants getting your hands dirty and learning about all of the different processes and products Fonterra produce. As I had never been in this kind of factory environment it was a great learning experience, both challenging and very rewarding. You also get a chance to travel the country and see some great sights! I managed to walk on the Fox Glacier in the West Coast and relax at Hanmer Springs.
The rest of the FGTP year you meet such a wide variety of people and get to experience firsthand just how much the dairy industry has to offer. I got to use the skills I learnt at University by applying them in real world situations, but you also continue to learn new skills throughout the year.
I now work at Waitoa in the Waikato, for the Nutritional Products Team, working on formulating and new product development for our nutritional customers. We manufacture infant and growing up milk formulas for high profile international nutritional customers. It’s a challenging and fast paced environment that offers a lot of growth and development for my career.
View Full Profile Jonathan Spurway Product Group Manager (Masters in Dairy Science and Technology (Hons),BE Chemical & Materials)
I joined Fonterra 7 years ago on the technical graduate training programme (FGTP) after completing a BE (C&M). The program FGTP provided great insights and a stepping stone into the dairy industry and Fonterra's operations. This period formed the foundation to my dairy knowledge. The networks and learning’s that I gained over this first year, whether it was from the times in the factories or in the learning environment of our R&D facilities in Palmerston North, are irreplaceable and I still often refer back to them to gain insight into my role today.
In January 2005 I commenced employment with the Product Technical Team as a development technologist. The focus of this role was product commercialisation and product technical advice to the business and its customers. I was involved with specification rationalisation, operational optimisation, and plant auditing. In this role I was lucky enough to travel to South America to audit one of our third party suppliers and to Asia to manage a reduction in the cost of goods for a FMCG liquid beverage.
After 18 months I was promoted into a management position within Product Technical where I was able to gain insight into people management and continue to develop my technical knowledge and networks.
In July 2007 I transition to the role of Technical Manager based in our USA head office (Chicago, IL). In this role I was responsible for providing technical expertise to the Fonterra (USA) sales team to help support and maximize sales opportunities. As this role evolved I found myself helping to the development and execution of customer plans and opportunity plans, for our key existing and new customers
During late 2008 I embarked on a role that saw me managing the technical purchasing of milk solids in the US. I created my own space and drove the North American sourcing side of “value add” projects. I provided technical and project management skills. I participated in commercial negotiation of the final sourcing agreements to allow the strategic value of these projects come to fruition. This role also acted as a link between a wide variety of cross functional groups to ensures supply gaps were filled.
In May 2010 I returned to NZ to take up my current role as Product Group Manager (Whey & Lactose). In this role I have responsibility for the management of all Whey and Lactose ingredients across Fonterra. I help to ensure that all areas of long term strategic alignment, commercial performance, and customer management such as pricing strategies, supply agreements, product innovations, non-product innovations and all customer-focused activities impacted or influenced by sales and operational planning functions are in line with our long term objectives to delivery increasing and optimal value to our shareholders. This also means working with our global network to uncover new sales and purchase opportunities that deliver the right origin product and pricing to complement growth and added value to the portfolio.
I really enjoy what I do. I joined Fonterra to learn the inner workings of a multinational. The experiences thus far have been extremely varied, challenging and rewarding and look forward to the challenges ahead. Fonterra is a great place to work!
