FOOD STANDARDS AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chairman, Implementation Subcommittee for Food Regulation
Dr Michael Dunbier is a research scientist with expertise in genetics and plant breeding. He is a former director of DSIR Crop Research and was the founding Chief Executive of Crop & Food Research. He is currently a Director of the Foundation for Arable Research.
Dr Taylor is a specialist in public health medicine with a broad background in general practice, humanities and environmental science. He occupied the statutory position of Director of Public Health in Tasmania from 2002 - 2015 and was also Chief Health Officer 2012-15. He has continued to work across a number of jurisdictions, maintaining interests in environmental health, communicable diseases and chronic disease prevention.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- FSANZ CEO ( Chair )
Dr Sandra Cuthbert was appointed Chief Executive Officer of FSANZ on 31 March 2022 to 31 March 2027.
Sandra has extensive leadership, policy, corporate governance and stakeholder engagement experience across the public and private sectors. She has held senior roles with the Australian Government departments of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Finance and Agriculture and Water Resources, as well as Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ).
Sandra brings a practical understanding of the complex environment that FSANZ operates within, drawing on her experience managing the agency's stakeholder engagement, corporate and food safety functions between 2018 and 2021. She has a reputation for delivering outcomes on complex and time critical projects, most recently as the Assistant Secretary, Commonwealth-State Relations at PM&C.
Sandra has post graduate qualifications in science and law and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Public Health Nutrition at the Institute for Physical Activity
Mark Lawrence is Professor of Public Health Nutrition at the Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Deakin University. He has 35 years' experience working as a practitioner and academic in food policy and regulation at local, state, national and international levels. Mark's research interests focus on investigating healthy and sustainable food systems, dietary guidelines, ultra-processed foods, Nutrient Reference Values and food labelling and fortification.
He is: an external advisor to the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization; Fellow of the Public Health Association of Australia; Member of the International Union of Nutritional sciences Task Force on Sustainable Diets; Chair of the Advisory Board for Cochrane Nutrition; Member of NHMRC's Synthesis and Translation of Research Evidence committee; Team leader of the ARC-funded project, 'Reforming evidence synthesis and translation for food and nutrition policy'; Former member of NHMRC's Dietary Guidelines Working Committee; and was Acting Principal Nutritionist at the then National Food Authority, 1993-97.
Job Titles:
- Fellow of Australian Institute of Food
- Head of Food Safety at the International Fresh Produce Association
Deon Mahoney is Head of Food Safety at the International Fresh Produce Association. He also provides food safety consultancy services and is a member of the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization (FAO/WHO) Expert Meeting on Microbiological Risk Assessment.
Deon has over 35 years' experience with the food industry, performing various roles including microbiological risk assessment, risk communication, food policy development, drafting and enforcement of food legislation, training and education, and establishing quality assurance programs.
Deon has previously worked for the WHO, the FAO, as well as with FSANZ and Dairy Food Safety Victoria. His international work has involved placements in over 25 countries, providing high level scientific advice and guidance on ways to manage food safety.
Deon is a fellow of Australian Institute of Food science and Technology (AIFST), and a non-executive director on the Boards of AIFST and the Fresh Produce Safety Centre Australia New Zealand.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of Business Group Australia, Executive
John Hart is Executive Director of Business Group Australia, Executive Chair of Australian Chamber - Tourism and on the Board of the Tourism Australia, the Australian Business Register, The Angus Knight Group, Hospitality Training Network and Food Standards Australia and New Zealand.
He was Executive Director of Restaurant & Catering Australia between 1999 and 2020. Restaurant & Catering Australia is the peak industry body representing restaurants, cafes and caterers across Australia. John came to the Association from Tourism Training NSW where he was Executive Officer for five years.
John has spent over 35 years working in the hospitality industry in operational, HR and IR roles, trained in food and beverage management at the Ecole Hotelliere Lausanne, in Switzerland, and holds a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Business Law and a Master of Business Law.
John currently also served as Chair of the Commonwealth Vocational Education and Training Advisory Board between 2013 and 2017 and was previously on the Prime Ministers Business Advisory Council. In 2021, he received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Queen's 95th Birthday Honours.
Job Titles:
- PSM Was Appointed Chair of the FSANZ Board from 4 November 2021 to 31 August 2025
Ms Glenys Beauchamp AO PSM was appointed Chair of the FSANZ Board from 4 November 2021 to 31 August 2025.
Ms Beauchamp has had an extensive career in the Australian Public Service, serving as Secretary of three Commonwealth Government departments including the Department of Health from 2017 - 2020; Department of industry, Innovation and science from 2013-2017 and Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport 2010-2013.
Ms Beauchamp has extensive national board experience and is currently a board member of the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care; Board Member, McGrath Foundation Ltd, and Chair of the Australian Building codes Board. She is also on the Advisory Board of Region Group Pty Ltd and adviser with Proximity Advisory Pty ltd and Dragoman Pty Ltd.
Ms Beauchamp has served on numerous national health, science, community and industry boards including the Digital Health Agency, Australian Sports Commission, CSIRO (ex-officio for three years); Innovation and science Australia (ex-officio); Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal; Australian Statistics Advisory Council; and the Administrative Review Council.
Job Titles:
- Member of Numerous Government Working Groups and Committees
Jane has an extensive background in on farm food safety and quality assurance. She has worked across the supply chain, including retailer distribution centres, pack houses, export businesses, freight and logistics and a broad range of farming enterprises.
She has firsthand experience of the workings of government and has qualifications in science, Corporate Governance and Leadership, and has a Masters in International Relations focussing on food security.
She has held executive roles with farming and seafood advocacy organisations, managing a commercial certification body, food labelling and bespoke scientific services businesses. Jane also has considerable experience in the not-for-profit sector, including more than a decade as Managing Director of TQA Australia.
Jane has been a member of numerous government working groups and committees including the Biosecurity Futures Group, Agvet Chemicals Stakeholder Review Group, Working Group on Safety and Quality System Equivalence, National Technical Reference Group for Food Safety Auditor Competency Standards and Environmental Management Systems (EMS) Steering Committee.
Jane also runs a small farm breeding cattle and pleasure horses.
Job Titles:
- Company Director
- Consultant
Jo Davey is a company director and consultant experienced in general management, innovation, food safety, regulatory affairs and product development in the dairy and food manufacturing sectors. She is a Director of Pirrama Consulting Pty Ltd, which provides management and technical consulting services to the food and beverage industries.
In addition to her FSANZ role, Jo serves as a Director of the Subtropical Dairy Programme (a Regional Development Programme of Dairy Australia) and as a Director of PPB Pty Ltd, a start-up diagnostics company.
Previous directorships include Dairy Food Safety Victoria, Dairy Innovation Australia Ltd and its predecessor organisations, and Australian Dairy Proteins. She was a member of the industry Advisory Committee for CSIRO's Food Futures Flagship for 10 years. She has also served as the national and state President of the Dairy industry Association of Australia and President of the Australian Institute of Food science and Technology.
Jo has held senior commercial and technical roles in the Dairy Farmers Group and was the Managing Director of a start-up food company, Diabetes Smart.
Teresa Ciprian has a background in the commercialisation, innovation, marketing and business development of branded consumer dairy and other foods.
She has significant international business experience, having held several senior roles with Danone in both the USA and France from where she worked in a number of international markets. Her primary focus was on identifying, developing and delivering global growth initiatives with central and locally based teams. As Food science graduate, her early career technical roles spanned quality control, analytical chemistry and product development.
Since returning to New Zealand, Teresa has advised a number of internationally focused businesses on their growth strategies and has developed a governance portfolio that also includes the boards of Zespri, Firstlight Foods Ltd, AgResearch, Aspeq and Phytomed Medicinal Herbs.
Job Titles:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Representative, Indigenous Allied Health Australia
Job Titles:
- Founding Member of the Consumer and Public Health Dialogue
Sue Chetwin led ConsumerNZ for 13 years until her recent resignation. The organisation is a highly trusted, public-facing not-for-profit, which advocates on behalf of consumers. Research into public health, nutrition and food labelling form a significant part of consumer's work.
Sue is a founding member of the consumer and Public Health Dialogue which provides insights to FSANZ. She is an experienced and award-winning journalist, having been editor of two national Sunday newspapers and the founding editor of the Herald on Sunday. Sue is currently studying fulltime to complete a law degree at Victoria University of Wellington. She is a director of the Financial Markets Authority, is chairing a review of InternetNZ policies and was recently appointed to a Law Society Independent Review group.