Sir John Monash Gold Medal Award for Agribusiness Co-operative Directors 2000

Mr Terry Hogan, Chairman, Ricegrowers Co-operative Limited

Through his entire farming and agribusiness career, Terry Hogan has strongly supported and upheld the ideals of the Co-operative movement. His initial support for the movement was through a supplier - shareholder relationship with Ricegrowers' Co-operative Limited and this expanded when he was elected to the Central Executive of the Ricegrowers' Association of Australia, a position which he held for twenty five years. In 1984 Mr Hogan was elected to the Board of Directors of the Ricegrowers Co-operative and he became deputy chairman in 1989 and chairman in 1996.

Terry Hogan has been and continues to be a visionary leader in the Australian Rice Industry, recognising the need to change and adapt to ensure success in the new millennium. Since becoming the Chairman of the Co-operative he has successfully reshaped it to improve competitiveness in the demanding local and global marketplace. Under Mr Hogan's leadership, Ricegrowers' Co-operative Limited has experienced a decade of aggressive growth and value creation. Paddy production and revenue have more than doubled and most importantly the share of revenue being paid to growers is increasing. This reflects change implemented to reduce costs and increase productivity and efficiency, the entry to new South East Asian Markets and the commercialisation of new rice food products. Ricegrowers' Co-operative is now Australia's largest exporter of branded food products and 85% of production is exported.

Mr Hogan has always placed a high priority on cooperating with both member/shareholders and staff to ensure that they are informed about the business and that feedback is encouraged. He participates actively in the communication strategy for member/shareholders and the majority of the Co-operative staff have met him. He also works in Cooperation with many external stakeholders from small community groups to Ministers of State.

Ricegrowers' Co-operative Limited has been a global, value adding, food processing and marketing company for many years. Terry Hogan has never accepted the status quo as good enough, challenging himself and Ricegrowers to be unrelenting in striving in excellence and has recently approved a bold new global and market oriented vision for the Co-operative - "To be the World's Favourite Rice Food Company". Under Mr Hogan's leadership, Ricegrowers is well on the way to achieving the new vision. In the past twelve months they have opened representative offices in Singapore, Dubai and Auckland and have facilities in Papua New Guinea, The Solomons, Tokyo and joint ventures in the United Kingdom and Belgium.