New Zealand Agribusiness Chairman to Speak at CPA Congress
Conor English, a well known negotiator will be one of the key speakers at the Certified Practicing Accountants Fiji (CPA) Congress 2018.
Mr English was a negotiator at the communique at the Rio+20 climate change conference.
The congress will be held from September 13-14 at Shangri-La’s Fijian Resort and Spa, Yanuca Island.
It is a premier forum for accountants and industry professionals from across the region.
Background
The youngest of 12 children, Mr English grew up on a farm in the small town of Dipton, Southland. Mr English has a background in farming, having started his career farming 7,000 stock units running sheep, cattle, grain, deer and forestry in the southern part of New Zealand. He now takes on the world negotiating with key global players as chairman of Agribusiness New Zealand.
With his global perspective, he believes in being constructive and having a crack at the opportunities life gives you.
Appointments
Mr English was appointed as one of two independent advisors to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand in May 2015.
He is also part of the New Zealand Government’s animal trade advisory council and a committee member of the livestock and animal Germplasm trade Association. Having worked in the insurance, oil, property, finance and agricultural sectors, Mr English has also worked in New Zealand’s parliament.
He was a press and private secretary to the then number four in Cabinet, with portfolios including commerce, industry, international trade, lands, fisheries and agriculture. Since then Mr English has worked as a lobbyist, commercial director and chief executive officer (CEO). He was CEO of Federated Farmers of New Zealand for six years. This organisation represents New Zealand’s dairy, sheep and beef, and cropping farmers at international, national and regional level.
In 2014, the day before he turned 50, he left a secure high-profile job and started his own business from scratch attempting to build farms and businesses in Russia, China, Kazakhstan and now Africa. Mr English has launched his own fresh milk brand into China, exported fish, meat, dairy, cattle, embryos, and fruit from New Zealand, Australia and South America.
He has sold meat to Russia, worked to sell sheep from Kazakhstan to the Middle East, milk powder from Iran, and prescription drugs into Africa. Mr English was also the campaign manager of his wife’s Wellington Mayoral campaign as an independent candidate.
He is currently working on a partnering agreement with a New Yorkbased business focussing globally on smart cities, the internet of things and green technologies.
Mr English has been a negotiator on the communique at the Rio + 20 climate change conference and has spoken at ‘side events’ at the United Nations Headquarters in New York He has given speeches in Dubai, Singapore, China, London and Australia.
He has been a panellist on The Nation, done several media interviews and written many columns on topics from Donald Trump’s trade policy to Happiness.
Mr English is a top speaker with an inimitable wealth of real life experience.