By Andrew Starke
Federal Minister for Agriculture Tony Burke has appointed James Dominguez as new chair of the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation (AWBC) board, while Andrew Cheesman has been named as the statutory authority’s new CEO.
Dominguez will commence his three-year term on July 1, while Cheesman starts his new role from today (Jun 24). He takes over from John Moore AO, has had a long career as an investment banker with extensive commercial experience in Asia.
Cheesman, who will take over from acting CEO Jock Osborne, started his career as a chartered accountant before joining South Australian wine company Petaluma as group accountant in 1998.
Cheesman was appointed general manager of Petaluma Wines in 2001 after Lion Nathan acquired the company. He was appointed winery operations director for the Lion Nathan Wine Group in 2004 and promoted to strategy manger for the company in 2008.
AWBC chairman John Moore said the appointments comes at a critical time for the Australian wine sector.
"As a highly experienced wine industry executive, Andrew has been tasked with forging closer links with the other wine sector organisations to provide coordinated strategic direction and leadership as the sector adjusts to a rapidly changing global wine environment," he said.
"The appointment of the new chief executive has taken longer than normal as, since the previous chief executive’s departure, a new board has been appointed and a review of the structure of the national wine sector organisations has been undertaken.”