Directors, Management and Grower Representatives
At AVOCO, people are our most important resource and unity is our strength. Our depth of experience is unmatched in export marketing, trading, logistics and orchard technical support. This places AVOCO in a position of true industry leadership.
By working together, we create prosperity for all.
Directors
John Carroll
John is one of Primor Produce’s founders, having spotted an opportunity to set up a specialist marketing business linking growers and supermarkets back in 1988. He is now CEO and chairman of Primor’s board. He holds an agricultural economics degree from Massey University and has worked closely with both growers and packhouses throughout his career.
John loves the challenge of dealing with perishable products and retaining the confidence of key customers. As a director of AVOCO and AVANZA, he is proud of the reputation each company has built.
John’s been married for over 35 years and enjoys spending time with his four children and grandchildren. He is a regular walker and a big fan of all sports, including horse racing.
Alistair Young
Alistair started his career as a horticulture cadet in the Bay of Plenty in 1982. He exported his first avocados in 1991 and was part of the group that formed the Team Avocado Trust in 1994. Since then he has been extremely focussed on advancing the interests of growers and developing New Zealand’s export industry in his roles as a director of AVOCO and Team Avocado Trust. He has also spent time as the chairman of the Avocado Exporters’ Committee.
Alistair and Deb own a 15ha orchard near Katikati.
Trevor Seal
Trevor has been on the AGRC since its inception in 2013 and has been growing avocados for 20 years.
Together with his wife Molly, they own a 2.4ha orchard in Te Puna, north of Tauranga. They are very hands-on, carrying out much of the physical work in managing the orchard themselves.
Trevor comes from a corporate background and enjoys the outdoor activity and rural environment.
He is a firm believer in maintaining strong relationships with commercial partners and has always strived to maintain good communication with his packers and exporter.
His philosophy is that success in horticulture is a two-way street.
“I need our partners to be successful and they need me to be successful. If that chain breaks, no one has a business.”
Deon Cartwright
Deon joined the AGRC in 2018 to fill the vacancy left by long-serving AGRC member Rex Scharnweber.
While still relatively new to growing avocados, Deon brings to the AGRC a wealth of business experience in competitive export markets, having previously spent 13 years with New Zealand building products and construction company Fletcher Building.
Deon is following in the footsteps of father Neil Cartwright who grew avocados for more than 13 years and served as a Team Avocado trustee as part of the trust’s early development.
Deon and his wife bought their avocado orchard at Whatitiri Mountain in 2015 as an investment. But working on the property sparked a desire three years later to leave Auckland and enjoy a full-time rural lifestyle with his young family.
In partnership with his sister, he also has ambitious plans to develop an orchard with 40ha of avocados.
Market Management Team
Tim Carroll
EXPORT MANAGER
Tim is the newest addition to the AVOCO export team, joining the business in August 2021.
Prior to joining AVOCO, Tim started his fresh produce career in 2019 working in an export role for RD8, specialising in the export of Apples, Summerfruit and Blueberries. Tim’s background prior to fresh produce was working in Fast-moving-consumer-goods (FMCG) across a number of category insights & sales roles across New Zealand, United Kingdom, and Australian markets. Developing his passion for analysis, trends, and insights along the way.
Outside of the 9 to 5, Tim enjoys spending time with his young family. He is a passionate supporter of Rugby and League and enjoys playing golf & tennis. He also enjoys learning Spanish & reading.
Ted Thomas
EXPORT MANAGER
Ted Thomas is AVOCO’s export manager and holds accounts with key customers in Australia. He is also responsible for AVANZA’s market development in Japan.
Ted joined Primor in 1999, having previously been Zespri International’s marketing manager for South East Asia. He’s enjoyed a long career in primary produce marketing and international sales and spent two years living in Kuala Lumpur to set up Zespri’s SEA office in the mid-1990s.
Ted grew up in Taranaki and holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration from Victoria University. As a director in Primor, he enjoys overseeing the growth of the company.
Auckland has been home since 1992, and Ted’s weekends are spent cheering on his two teenage sons from the sidelines of various sports.
Martin Napper
EXPORT MANAGER
As AVANZA’s market manager for South Korea, Martin has played a leading role in promoting consumption of New Zealand avocados to Korea’s health-conscious consumers.
Martin had vast experience in marketing and perishable export sales (chilled fish and live lobster exports) and worked for a global trading company before joining Primor in 2008.
He develops information systems for avocado and is Primor’s key liaison with Bay of Plenty packhouses Apata and Trevelyan’s.
He loves the diversity of his role and relishes the challenge of discovering what marketing works best for different countries and cultures.
Henry McIntosh
EXPORT MANAGER
Henry is a market manager for AVANZA’s South-East Asian markets, including Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. He is also responsible for developing AVANZA’s market presence in India and managing retail accounts in Australia.
His key strengths lie in organisation and planning and he enjoys building long term relationships with key customers as well as growers.
Henry was raised on a Canterbury sheep farm and has degrees from Otago and Massey Universities. He enjoys travelling and, after graduating, worked in marketing and account management across London and Europe before returning to New Zealand and settling in the Bay of Plenty.
Handy with a camera, he enjoys photography and has begun shooting weddings in his spare time.
Steve Trickett
EXPORT MANAGER
A strong supporter of the AVANZA model, Steve Trickett joined the Primor and AVOCO teams in 2017 and operates as AVOCO’s Marketing and Communications manager.
He is responsible for market planning and performance with particular focus on new and developing markets where fruit carries the AVANZA brand, including China. He supports all the market managers, oversees contestable fund applications and also works to develop AVOCO’s communications and profile among the grower community.
Steve grew up on a citrus and avocado orchard in Gisborne before attending Lincoln University, graduating with diplomas in horticulture and horticulture management.
Steve’s 38-year career in the export sector includes stints at Fruitfed Export, NZ Kiwifruit Marketing Board (now Zespri), Chiquita Brands New Zealand Ltd, ENZA Fresh, Freshmax Ltd and Turners & Growers Exports.
He is happily married with one son and enjoys wine tasting, horse racing, golf and boating.
Administration Team
Kim Webb
FINANCE AND POOL MANAGEMENT
With a head for numbers and her attention to detail, Kim is Southern Produce’s Financial Manager, responsible for administering all financial payments to growers.
She grew up in the Waikato and spent many years as a competitive swimmer. Her early career involved 13 years in Australia working for a large textile company. In 2000, she returned to New Zealand where she began working for Team Avocado and later Southern Produce.
Kim enjoys travelling, reading and keeping fit at the gym. She is also a shareholder in a blueberry orchard.
Michael Egleton
COMMERCIAL MANAGER
Michael’s first involvement in horticulture was as COO of a high-tech chive farm in Israel in 2009. In this role he pursued a retail-direct strategy for chive exports into Europe. In 2010, he returned to New Zealand and has been Southern Produce’s Commercial Manager since then.
At Southern Produce, Michael has involvement across the group as company secretary, and managing the Team Kiwi class 2 kiwifruit to Australia pool and domestic kiwifruit administration and pools. For BerryCo, Michael assists the GM with accounting and excel modelling.
For AVOCO, Michael is involved in foreign exchange, commercial contracts, and assists the pool accountants, Kim and Grant where required.
Michael and Vanessa bought a small green kiwifruit orchard in 2011, grafted to gold in 2013, and sold it in 2017 to develop a blueberry orchard, having enlisted their three daughters help!
Michael is also involved in a blueberry post-harvest entity.
Steve Trickett
MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER
A strong supporter of the AVANZA model, Steve Trickett joined the Primor and AVOCO teams in 2017 and operates as AVOCO’s Marketing and Communications manager.
He is responsible for market planning and performance with particular focus on new and developing markets where fruit carries the AVANZA brand, including China. He supports all the market managers, oversees contestable fund applications and also works to develop AVOCO’s communications and profile among the grower community.
Steve grew up on a citrus and avocado orchard in Gisborne before attending Lincoln University, graduating with diplomas in horticulture and horticulture management.
Steve’s 38-year career in the export sector includes stints at Fruitfed Export, NZ Kiwifruit Marketing Board (now Zespri), Chiquita Brands New Zealand Ltd, ENZA Fresh, Freshmax Ltd and Turners & Growers Exports.
He is happily married with one son and enjoys wine tasting, horse racing, golf and boating.
Technical and Compliance Team
Richard Kok
Richard joined Avoco in May 2021 after arriving in New Zealand from South Africa. He previously spent nine years in technical and commercial roles at Westfalia Marketing Africa – part of the multinational Westfalia Fruit Group that supplies fresh and processed produce to international markets through its vertically-integrated supply chain.
With his international experience and a passion for horticulture, his role as Technical Manager sees him work closely with growers to improve fruit quality and orchard management best practices.
Richard and his wife Suzanne and their young daughter Mikaela are based in the Bay of Plenty, and enjoy exploring New Zealand’s outdoor environment at every opportunity.
Jerome Hardy
Jerome started his working life in 1992 as Overseas Technical Officer for the South African avocado industry and has worked in various technical roles ever since then.
He arrived in New Zealand in 2002 to join Apata Group where he worked for seven years before joining Avoco partner Primor Produce as Technical Manager in 2009. Jerome stepped back from his full-time role to spend a year working on a large orchard development but continues his close association and a contract technical role with Primor and Avoco today.
He and his wife Fran, and their children love the outdoors and are based in Warkworth where they make the most of the beautiful Leigh coast.
Danni van der Heijden
Danni is a member of the Avoco Technical Team – one of four dedicated people within Avoco responsible for grower technical support and orchard management advice. In 2020, she was promoted to Quality and Export Systems Manager.
She joined Avoco in 2018 with proven skills and a tertiary education majoring in biology and chemistry. She supports Avoco’s drive to improve fruit quality, looking at grower practices as well as providing in-market support when dealing with issues such as fruit rot.
In 2018, she won the Bay of Plenty and New Zealand Young Grower of the Year awards as well as being judged the country’s top Young Fruit Grower.
She went on to compete at the New Zealand Young Horticulturalist of the Year contest, finishing third and winning the Market Innovation Project award for a proposal to develop a tool for the avocado industry to improve the accuracy of crop estimation.
Danni is a familiar face to growers, having previously worked with Trevelyan’s avocado business unit and in a technical role at NZ Avocado.
She understands the issues that growers face, operating her own avocado orchard at Aongatete since 2018.
Wanda Whitton-Esteve
GENERAL MANAGER COMPLIANCE
AVOCO Grower Relationship Committee
AGRC
Deon Cartwright
CHAIRMAN
Deon joined the AGRC in 2018 to fill the vacancy left by long-serving AGRC member Rex Scharnweber.
While still relatively new to growing avocados, Deon brings to the AGRC a wealth of business experience in competitive export markets, having previously spent 13 years with New Zealand building products and construction company Fletcher Building.
Deon is following in the footsteps of father Neil Cartwright who grew avocados for more than 13 years and served as a Team Avocado trustee as part of the trust’s early development.
Deon and his wife bought their avocado orchard at Whatitiri Mountain in 2015 as an investment. But working on the property sparked a desire three years later to leave Auckland and enjoy a full-time rural lifestyle with his young family.
In partnership with his sister, he also has ambitious plans to develop an orchard with 40ha of avocados.
Maria Watchorn
Maria joined the AGRC in 2024.
She was a Director of NZ Avocado for several years until she decided to step down from the role to focus on the Avocado business she has with her husband Andrew.
Maria has been passionately growing avocados since 2005 and been a strong advocate and voice for growers not only through her past board role but also her role in her packhouses grower-based committee.
Prior to this she had an extensive Management career with the BNZ and latterly Westpac before taking maternity leave to care for their son Caleb.
After many years enjoying the accolades of “Grower of the Year” via the production from their Omokoroa property they sold that and moved to another avocado block towards Katikati where she and her husband invigorated and look after a 20-hectare block mainly being avocados.
She has been directly involved in numerous trials over the past 20 years with various science and industry groups which has led her to have a vast and in-depth knowledge in all things avocado.
Marias broad commercial background and exposure to NZ Avocado as a Director enables her to “always champion what’s best for the grower” for a fair and equitable outcome.
Mobile: 027 548 2992
Linda Flegg
I have been involved with Avocados since I was old enough to be put to work picking fruit! My family has farmed the land at Kauri Point since the early ’60s, and today our business has grown to include 7 hectares of avocados and 30 hectares of kiwifruit. I started working in the post-harvest side of the family business in 1999, overseeing coolstore operations and managing compliance. In July 2021, after KauriPak was sold I transitioned to working in the orchards, picking up the tools, and dived into the world of growing avocados and kiwifruit as part of our family’s succession planning.
From a governance perspective, I helped establish the NZ Avocado Packers Forum and served as both secretary and chair. I’ve also completed two terms as a grower representative for the NZAGA and held the role of Industry Chair from 2020 to October 2023. In 2023, I became a director of the Team Avocado Trust and was appointed to the AGRC. Additionally, I currently serve on the advisory committee for NZ Gap, linked to HortNZ.
In my spare time, I breed, show, and judge Bull Terriers, a passion I’ve had since purchasing my first pedigree Bully in 1996.
Mobile: 021 458 782
Ron Bailey
Ron played a key role in the early development of AVOCO and now enjoys supporting growers through policy development and strategic decision-making as a member of the company’s grower-led management committee.
Ron has spent more than 40 years involved with horticulture after his family diversified their rural business interests into avocado and kiwifruit after purchasing a Te Puke dairy farm on Rangiuru Road in 1963.
They planted their first avocado trees in 1976 and now have an established 15ha orchard.
His three adult children’s involvement in the business enabled him to take on a more active role in the avocado industry and serve for a time as chairman on the New Zealand Avocado Industry Council.
Ron firmly believes that AVOCO transformed the industry and says it’s been satisfying to see how the company continues to add value to growers’ pockets and create stability for everyone.
Mobile: 0274 524 538
Ross Mutton
Ross has represented Far North growers on the AGRC since 2013.
With partner Lesley, he has been growing avocados at Houhora in the winterless North for 15 years. During that time, he has transformed his home orchard by replacing older trees with younger clonal varieties as well as leasing a second orchard and having a supervisory role on a 20 canopy hectare corporate block.
Ross grew up dairy farming with his family in Te Puke where the property was steadily planted out with kiwifruit starting in 1979. He caught the horticulture ‘bug’ and, after leaving school, ran a wholesale market in Tauranga, trading in fruit and vegetables throughout New Zealand.
A desire to return to working the land took him to the Far North where he enjoys running orchards and being the master of his own destiny.
A lover of the outdoors, his spare time is spent fishing around Northland and he heads south every April to hunt red stags in the roar.
Mobile: 027 648 5577
Ross Woods
Mobile: 021 941 639
Trevor Seal
VICE-CHAIRMAN
Trevor has been on the AGRC since its inception in 2013 and has been growing avocados for 20 years.
Together with his wife Molly, they own a 2.4ha orchard in Te Puna, north of Tauranga. They are very hands-on, carrying out much of the physical work in managing the orchard themselves.
Trevor comes from a corporate background and enjoys the outdoor activity and rural environment.
He is a firm believer in maintaining strong relationships with commercial partners and has always strived to maintain good communication with his packers and exporter.
His philosophy is that success in horticulture is a two-way street.
“I need our partners to be successful and they need me to be successful. If that chain breaks, no one has a business.”
Phone: 07 552 4485
Mark West
Mark has served on the Grower Relations Committee as a mid-North representative for Primor since AVOCO was formed.
He kicked off his horticultural career working for a corporate apple grower before avocados got under his skin. He has since clocked up more than 20 years’ experience growing avocados and supplying Primor.
He operates two large orchards in Poroti – one is a 32ha lease block and the other is a 10ha new block that is under development with young plantings. Until three years ago, he managed a 64ha avocado block.
Mark runs his business as a family operation with his wife Karen and their three children who have very active roles in the orchard.
Mobile: 027 534 6349
Ashby Whitehead
Mobile: 027 283 2192
John Cotterell
Mobile: 027 451 3138
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