HHWET - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Director of Merredin Farm Ltd
Craig Fleming is a farmer with 35 years' experience in arable agriculture along with ownership of dairy farms.
Craig's relationship to the Hekeao Hinds catchment covers a lifetime of living and farming alongside the lower Hinds River.
Craig is also active in the community as Chair of the Ashburton Hinds Drainage District Liaison Committee and the Hinds Drains Working Party
Craig is also a Director of Merredin Farm Ltd and Eiffelton Contractors Ltd.
Craig is the Ashburton Hinds Drainage District representative on HHWET.
Graeme Harrison KNZM is a company director and Methven resident farmer who founded one of New Zealand's largest export companies. Graeme has held many director roles in the meat, dairy, seafood, farming, trade and tertiary education sectors and was the inaugural chairman of the New Zealand International Business Forum.
Graeme served as a community appointee on the Hinds/Hekeao MAR Governance Group before becoming a Co-opted Trustee of HHWET.
Mark Webb is a trustee of HHWET representing the community.
Neil Brown is Mayor of Ashburton District Council (ADC).
Neil is a born and bred Ashburton family man, having been married to Judy for 27 years and raised three children in the District. He has lived and worked on farms throughout the district and has business interests in Ashburton.
Before being elected Mayor in October 2019, Neil served three years as Deputy Mayor and 12 years as a councillor on the ADC.
Neil's relationship to the Hekeao Hinds catchment covers many years as a shareholder of Ashburton Lyndhurst Irrigation Limited, Barrhill Chertsey Irrigation Limited and a director of Rangitata Diversion Race Management Limited.
Peter is a farmer with 18 years' experience in the Hekeao/Hinds catchment. He currently operates near Hinds.
Prior to this, Peter was a partner in a wider family farming business with interests in the Ashburton and Selwyn districts.
Peter's relationship to the Hekeao Hinds catchment covers 25 years; This includes setting up a water user group then chairing the Hinds Drains Working Party. He has been active in his community through leadership roles in the Hinds School and Ashburton College Boards of Trustees. Peter also holds leadership responsibility in the Southern Rugby Football Club.
Peter is the Federated Farmers and groundwater user's representative on HHWET and a Director/Trustee of family farming business companies.
Vincent Lobb was born in Taranaki and was a dairy farmer in the region for 17 years before moving to the Hekeao Hinds Plains in 1997 to continue dairy farming. Vincent has been active in the irrigation sector in the Hekeao Hinds Plains since 2014. He is currently a director of irrigation entities, RDRML, MHV Water & Irrigo.
Vincent is the Rangitata Diversion Race (RDRML) representative on HHWET.