MBW Committee

Catharine heads up Communications and Media at the Australian Meat Industry Council (AMIC), working across all member sectors which includes processors, smallgoods manufacturers and independent retail butchers.

Catharine has over 30 years’ experience in corporate communications and joined AMIC in July 2020, being responsible for the communications strategy, member communications, project management, media relations, brand, PR, marketing, social and digital media, publications and national events, including Meat Business Women Territory Partner activities.

Catharine is Chair of Meat Business Women – Australia Committee.

Connect with Catharine here: http://www.linkedin.com/in/catharineheffernan/

Amy Brooks is Marketing Manager at Stockyard Beef, a leading exporter of high quality grain fed beef from Australia to markets around the world. Amy manages and coordinates all marketing, advertising, promotional activities and brand positioning for Stockyard Beef.

Amy has over 15 years agribusiness experience. Her contribution to the Australian agriculture and food industry stretches beyond the marketing of a niche, high quality beef brand. Amy is committed to enhancing the profile, reputation and experience of women, as a committee member of the Australian chapter of Meat Business Women.

Amy is an Indigenous woman and proud descendant of the Wulli Wulli people. Her connection to country and perspective as a woman of colour and traditional owner is valued by many. She sits on the OBE Organic Reconciliation Action Plan committee and is a Non-Executive Director of the Woorabinda Pastoral Company. These roles provide Amy an opportunity to influence positive change at both a grassroots and global level for women and Indigenous people.

Amy regularly provides her perspective at speaking engagements, where she shares her personal journey, as well as her professional perspective as a woman in agriculture with a lived experience of diversity and inclusion.

At the tender age of 22, Melissa was sent to WA in 1998 to commission and manage Fletcher International’s new Albany sheep meat processing business. Despite the size of that task, she had three children and managed to lead a reasonably normal family life along the way. She left to run her own business for a number of years, before rejoining the family’s Dubbo operations in 2015.

Since then she has been the key driver of major changes in the Fletchers’ business, and is passionate about both diversity and the need for support networks for young women entering the industry.

Lizzie is a Meat Sales Officer at Mort & Co where she manages the sales of premium grainfed Angus and Wagyu beef, under the Phoenix Beef brand, to customers throughout Australia and the world. Lizzie’s extensive experience in the meat industry began at birth where she was raised on her families mixed cropping and livestock grazing enterprise before completing a Bachelor of Animal Science hons. Meat Science at UNE in Armidale.

Lizzie has since progressed in her professional career in meat sales, holding both domestic and export sales roles. She has also worked in beef production, supply chain management and marketing functions. Before beginning her current role at Mort & Co, Lizzie lived and worked in Ireland and the UK, managing a key retail account for an Irish meat processor. It was during this time that she grew a keen interest in the retail sector, exploring consumer demands and purchasing behaviours.

Lizzie loves travelling the world, boosting the profile for women in meat and showcasing the best beef Australia has to offer!

Connect with Lizzie here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-mcclymont/

Stacey has made a career in the Australian red meat industry, from her first job packing beef during school holidays through to her current role with the Australia’s Peak Industry Association for the red meat industry Australian Meat Industry Council (AMIC).

Clare Ross is Marketing Manager for niche, Brisbane-based international meat exporter Paradigm Foods. 

With 15 years experience in food & beverage marketing domestically & abroad Clare is new to the meat world, bringing a great love all things cooking, eating and celebrating good food. 

After working in international brand roles with McDonald’s and leading Victoria Bitter beer in Melbourne, Clare brings big brand thinking to the meat industry to really understand and deliver to the ever-changing needs of consumers around the world.  

Having married a fourth-generation beef producer, Clare keeps connected to the Queensland country and has developed a great passion for creating premium Australian beef & pork brands that pay respect to the land and celebrate the amazing stories of local producers. 

With a passion for creating powerful brands and for seeing women thrive in their chosen careers, Clare is thrilled to be part of the Meat Business Women Australian division. 

Connect with Clare here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clare-ross-73174425