NZ WOOL CLASSERS ASSOCIATION - Key Persons

Allan Frazer

al..@gmail.com

Job Titles:

Member of the Board
Board Member ( Independent ) May 2021 to Current
Board Member ( Independent ) May 2021 to Current / Membership
Board Member of NZWCA
Independent Director and Patron

Allan has been a board member of NZWCA since its formation in 2006 and is its longest serving member. His employer until early 2010 was Meat & Wool New Zealand and its predecessor organisations where he worked for some 50 years. It was toward the end of this period when he had responsibility for overseeing a range of wool industry good programmes. This included grants to industry good organisations in the wool sector, managing meat and wool levy support of ITO training and managing scholarships for undergraduate and post graduate wool scholars. During this time, he was assigned to work with wool industry interests to undertake the formation of NZWCA and in this role he was invited by the industry to continue his involvement by becoming a board member. Allan grew up on a Canterbury sheep and beef farm and for many years was a partner in a livestock farming operation in North Canterbury. He graduated from Lincoln University in the days when an introduction to wool classing training was a component of every agricultural degree and diploma qualification on offer. During his career he held a range of senior roles including two periods as European Director of the Meat Producers Board and a 12-month period as Acting CEO for the global organisation. His experience covered roles in research and development, marketing, leadership and human capability development as well as serving as a director of a number of industry organisations. He is currently a business advisor to a number of organisations including being the business manager for the Poplar and Willow Research Trust and Facilitator of the Wool Industry Education Trust. He, and his wife Heather, own and manage a small olive grove North of Wellington.

Annette Gamble

Job Titles:

Secretary

Bill Dowle

bi..@farmore.co.nz

Job Titles:

Member of the Board
Classer Representative & Chair of the Association D1076

Bill is originally from a half-bred farming background in the Kaikoura area. In 1988 he studied extramurally at Massey to gain the Certificate of Wool Handling Systems followed by his merino and shed classer status. With the sale of his farm, Bill shifted to Sefton in 2004, and took over an engineering business but continued to attend Fiber Select days to maintain contact with the industry. In 2007 he sold the engineering business and re-entered the rural community when he began a new enterprise of servicing lifestyle properties and wool classing, with a number of clients in the Awatere Valley. In 2013 Bill shifted to a lifestyle property at Amberley and began to work as a Rural Real Estate Salesperson with Harcourts, as well as continuing to class wool , initially in the Awatere but since 2017 he has classed in North Canterbury as the away time became too much for the Real Estate side. Bill has been involved in many community organizations over the years such as Young Farmers, Federated Farmers, and School Board of trustees, and more recently with Land Search and Rescue where he is now Canterbury Regional Secretary and a senior Incident Management Team member. He is keen to promote classing as a vital part of clip improvement for the wool industry and to encourage young people to take up the challenge of classing.

Don Urquhart

Job Titles:

Member of the Board
Representative

Don was born & raised in Ashburton Mid Canterbury, spending his formative years on a high country station working with Merino sheep and wool. Purchasing a fine wool property at Omarama which he farmed for 14 years. Don then moved to Oamaru to work full time with the wool merchant business he had started at Kurow. Don completed the Massey Wool Course extramurally and continued to expand his classing run until the wool business grew to the point that it required his full attention. Still maintaining his Merino classing stencil (M486) with pride in a profession he believes is important to the wool industry and the New Zealand economy. Federation of Wool Merchants appointed Don to support the Wool Classers and wool preparation as Wool Merchant members feel they can help meet a need in the industry at a practical level. The Federation has been supportive of Don in his endeavours. As a board member he would like to raise the profile of wool classing in general and support classers to the best of his ability and considers it a privilege to assist in any way possible.

Karen Wilkins-Duff

Job Titles:

Member of the Board
CLASSER REPRESENTATIVE A871

Karen's career in the wool industry started in her teen years as a shed hand on the family farm. It was becoming obvious that with a natural ability, an eye for detail and love for wool and shed work, that Karen would eventually begin studies in the industry. The Wool course at Lincoln College (as it was known as then) was pursued in 1982 which started off Karen's Classing career in earnest that same year. Sheds around Marlborough, both on the home farm, and the neighbours, and anyone who would give her a shed were all helping towards her classing stencil. The call of University beckoned again, however, with a short stint attempting BCOM Fmgt, and finally the Diploma in Wool technology in 1986. A move to Central Otago in 1987 to work for Peter Lyon was the next opportunity, in the hope that many sheds would pass her way and allow Karen to complete her A stencil. Thanks to Peter putting his trust in my abilities, this quickly came to fruition. Further opportunities arose later in 1987 when Karen was approached by the Wool Board in Wellington to join them as a Sales Analyst. A role she found interesting, which also took her to Christchurch and Dunedin valuing on the wool floor before auction. It took less than a year however to realise that she was not ready for the corporate world in Wellington, so after a few phone calls to relevant industry people, she left on the next boat back to Marlborough to pursue full time classing. This led to nearly 20 years as a full-time classer. Off seasons were spent in the horticultural industry eventually as a quality inspector for Enza/Agriquality - now Asurequality Ltd and a 3-month sheep classing scholarship spent in NSW and South Australia for good measure, courtesy of the Marlborough Merino society and then prominent and legendary sheep classer Gordon McMaster. A career change in 2006 led Karen back to Lincoln University to complete her BCOM, with a double major in International Business and Marketing. All the while keeping one shed up her sleeve as study pocket money. The last 10 years have seen Karen, now based in Christchurch, continue with part-time classing, as well as full-time General Manager/Director for her family business Durolla Products NZ Ltd, a manufacturing company. This involves marketing and selling injection moulded paper and soap dispensers to the hygiene, cleaning and paper industries. With a very challenging and varied working career, who knows what the future will bring. One thing for certain is that some involvement in the wool industry will always be welcome says, Karen.

Kevin Waldron

kw..@pggwrightson.co.nz

Job Titles:

Member of the Board
INDUSTRY REPRESENTATIVE - PGG Wrightson ( Dunedin ) D984

Hi, I am Kevin Waldron. I live in Fairfield, Dunedin with my partner Catherine and we have two adult sons. I left school at the end of 1977 with no idea of where or what my future employment would be. Until I was given a jog opportunity as a Junior Wool Classer at my father's work Christmas function by Dave Studholme (a well-known Classer/Manager for Wrightson NMA Wool in those days).