Killen new AACo chief
Australia’s biggest integrated cattle and beef producer has turned to a former banker and currency trader to run the group, appointing Hugh Killen as its new chief executive.
AUSTRALIA’S biggest integrated cattle and beef producer has turned to a former banker and currency trader to run the group, appointing Hugh Killen as its new chief executive.
Mr Killen, who also has a background as a pastoralist and spent the early years of his career in the agricultural sector, will step into the post at Australian Agricultural Company on February 1.
Announcing the appointment yesterday, AACo touted Mr Killen’s extensive experience in Australia and abroad, most recently as the head of fixed income, currency and commodities for Westpac.
AACo chairman Donald McGauchie said Mr Killen’s was “the right person” to run Australia’s oldest continuously operating company.
He had been selected following an international search, Mr McGauchie said.
Mr Killen will be paid a fixed annual remuneration of $600,000, a cash bonus maximum of $300,000 and a maximum of $150,000 under AACo’s performance rights plan. Former AACo boss Jason Strong resigned in August.
Founded in 1824, AACo owns 21 vast outback properties across Queensland and the Northern Territory, a breeding herd of 540,000 cattle and an abattoir south of Darwin.