OUR PEOPLE
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Steve Mcguire
General Section President
Duncan Young
Elected Board Member
Mark Fowler
Elected Board Member
Michael Tarling
Independent Skills Based Member
Mic Fels
Elected Board Member
Hugo Bombara
Elected Board Member
Matt Hill
Elected Board Member
Liz Jackson
Skills Based Director
Commodity Presidents
Mark Fowler
Grains Section President
Mark Fowler a grain and livestock farmer operating at Williams and Harrismith in WA.Before returning to farming, Mark worked as a corporate lawyer with BDW and international law firm Allen & Overy. He also served as an Australian Army officer with the Royal Australian Armoured Corps in the Army Reserve. Mark brings a strong combination of practical farming experience, commercial and legal expertise, and leadership experience to his role representing Western Australian grain growers and advocating on the policy, regulatory and commercial issues affecting the grains industry.
Geoff Pearson
Livestock Section President
Geoff Pearson is a third-generation WA cattle farmer. Over the past 30 years, Geoff has transitioned his grandfather’s farming legacy out of dairy and developed Lake Preston Beef into a substantial integrated cattle enterprise. The business operates across seven properties throughout Western Australia’s South West, covering more than 100,000 acres of agricultural land and supporting a significant breeding herd. Geoff has extensive practical and commercial experience across cattle breeding, backgrounding and lot feeding, producing cattle for domestic and international markets. His experience spans pasture-based production, grain feeding, Wagyu production and the live export sector. He brings more than three decades of hands-on livestock and business experience to his industry leadership, representing WA producers on livestock markets, animal welfare, biosecurity, processing, live export and the long-term competitiveness of Western Australia’s livestock industry.
Steve Mcguire
General Section President
Steve McGuire is a fifth-generation farmer and woolgrower from Kojonup, WA. After completing a Bachelor of Business (Agriculture) and Diploma in Farm Management at Curtin University, Steve returned to the family farm, where he has spent more than 30 years managing a mixed cropping and sheep enterprise. He has extensive practical experience in wool and sheepmeat production and a strong interest in research, innovation and improving productivity within the sheep industry. Steve has held senior leadership roles within WAFarmers for many years and served for six years as a Director of WoolProducers Australia, providing him with extensive experience in agricultural policy and national industry representation. His involvement in the wool industry has also given him a broad understanding of the supply chain, from on-farm production through wool handling, testing, processing and international marketing. As WAFarmers President, Steve brings together practical farming experience and industry leadership to advocate for the long-term profitability, competitiveness and sustainability of Western Australian agriculture
Ian Noakes
Dairy Section President
Ian Noakes is President of the WAFarmers Dairy Council and an experienced dairy farmer from Forest Grove, south of Margaret River. Ian and his wife Helen have operated their family dairy farm since 1988 and today milk approximately 600 cows, with their sons Brad and Steve also involved in the business.Ian has more than 4 decades of practical dairy farming experience and has held senior industry roles with WAFarmers, Western Dairy and Australian Dairy Farmers. He brings extensive practical and industry experience to representing and advocating for Western Australian dairy farmers.
STAFF
Trevor Whittington
Chief Executive Officer
Melanie Tolich
Corporate Manager, Policy, Government & Stakeholder Relations
Councillors
General Section:
- Steve McGuire – President
- Vacant – Vice President
Grains Section Executive:
- Mark Fowler – President
- Matt Hill – Vice President
Livestock Section Executive:
- Geoff Pearson – President
- David Slade – Vice President
Dairy Section Executive:
- Ian Noakes – President
- Vacant – Vice President