New Chair and Directors strengthen AIA Board
6-Mar-2026AIA announces key Board changes that reinforce the organisation’s commitment to strong governance and high impact innovation across Australia’s agriculture, fisheries and forestry sectors.
After two years on the AIA Board, Mr Ian Halliday has been appointed as the organisation’s new Chair. He brings deep experience across the agrifood sector, including leadership roles as Managing Director of Dairy Australia and CEO of KR Castlemaine Foods.
AIA has also appointed Mr Andrew Baxter, an AIA Director of two years, as Deputy Chair.
Mr Halliday said the organisation deeply appreciates the significant contributions of outgoing Chair, Dr Anne Astin, and Director, Ms Kathy Grigg, who have retired from the Board after guiding AIA through its formative years.
“Dr Astin and Ms Grigg were instrumental as inaugural Directors. Their leadership helped steer the organisation through its formative years, including validating AIA’s collaborative investment model and overseeing nationally significant initiatives such as the Environmental Accounting Platform, which delivered a benefit-to-cost ratio of 17:1 for the agriculture, fisheries and forestry sectors.”
AIA also welcomed three new Directors who bring extensive experience across business, governance, technology, sustainability and industry transformation:
Ms Libby Roy BAppSc (OT), MBA, GAICD A non‑executive director with more than 25 years’ experience across financial services, telecommunications, technology and travel, including senior executive roles at Bravura Solutions, Optus Business, PayPal ANZ, American Express, AMP, AXA and Booz Allen.
Ms Catherine Cooper LLB, GDLP, FAICD
A seasoned non-executive director with deep cross-sector expertise across agribusiness, rural Research and Development Corporations (RDCs), Collaborative Research Centres, regulatory bodies and industry organisations, including roles with Wine Australia, Australian Eggs, Grains Australia, Australian Fisheries Management Authority and the Dairy Regulator SA.
Mr Ron Gauci GAICD
An experienced company director and executive with more than 30 years’ leadership experience across technology, business, education and sport, including roles with Australian Information Industry Association, Federation Square, Melbourne Storm, Melbourne Polytechnic, and multinational organisations including Telstra, IBM, Microsoft and Verizon.
Mr Halliday said the refreshed Board brings the right mix of expertise to accelerate AIA’s strategic direction.
“This marks a new chapter for AIA. The new Directors bring a powerful blend of commercial acumen, governance capability and industry insight. Their expertise will accelerate our refreshed strategic direction and strengthen the portfolio of high impact, cross-sector initiatives we are advancing with the RDCs.”
He also reinforced AIA’s unique contribution to Australia’s innovation ecosystem.
“As a not-for-profit, AIA exists to help Australian agriculture, fisheries and forestry address complex challenges no sector should tackle alone. By bringing together collective investment and applying agile innovation, we deliver whole‑of‑sector solutions that create measurable impact.”