Management Profiles

Rob Gordon

Chief Executive Officer - BSc (Hons) CEng

Rob joined SunRice in February 2012 as CEO. Rob has more than 30 years of senior strategic experience, including as President South-East Asia and Senior Vice President of Viterra Inc; CEO and Managing Director of Dairy Farmers Ltd; Managing Director of Goodman Fielder, Consumer Foods; and has held various senior executive positions at Unilever. He is also a Director of Riviana Foods Pty Ltd; Trukai Industries Ltd (PNG); Aqaba Processing Company Ltd (Jordan); Sunshine Rice Inc. (USA); SunFoods LLC (USA); Ricegrowers Singapore; and a Member of the Agribusiness Advisory Board, Rabobank.

Dimitri Courtelis

Chief Financial Officer - BCompt (UNISA), CA (ICAA), CFE (ACFE)

Dimitri was appointed as CFO of SunRice in March 2018. Dimitri has had an extensive career across the finance function in both accountancy and corporate roles across several countries. Following the commencement of his career in 2000 in South Africa as an external auditor, in 2006 Dimitri joined EY in Australia specialising in Transaction Advisory Services and between 2009-2011 was employed at Deloitte in Dubai in the Transaction Advisory and Forensics division. Dimitri joined Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi in 2011 holding several senior finance positions and was appointed Group CFO of Air Serbia in 2013, where his key focus was the airline’s successful turnaround. From 2015, he was Deputy CFO and then Group CFO at Air Berlin PLC. Dimitri is a qualified chartered accountant (ICAA) and certified fraud examiner (ACFE).

Kate Cooper

General Counsel & Company Secretary - BA (Communications) LLB

Kate joined SunRice in 2016 as General Counsel and in December 2020 was appointed Company Secretary, assuming responsibility for the Group's company secretarial, legal and corporate affairs functions.  Kate has more than 25 years' experience as a lawyer, with large law firms in Australia as well as in-house.  Prior to joining SunRice, she was General Counsel of Ticketek (then part of the Nine Entertainment Group) for 10 years.

David Keldie

General Manager, Consumer Markets - BA

David joined SunRice in 2001 and was appointed General Manager, Consumer Markets in 2005. David is responsible for the Middle East, Asia, the Pacific, Solomon Islands, Australia and New Zealand and North Asia Tender Markets, as well as New Product Development and Jordan's Aqaba processing facility. David is involved with the Sales and Marketing teams at SunFoods (USA) and Trukai (PNG), assisting with their growth strategies and providing business development support. David has 25 years’ experience in the fast-moving consumer goods industry. He is a Director of Aqaba Processing Company Ltd and Trukai Industries Ltd (PNG). Director of Sunshine Rice Pty Ltd.

Matt Alonso

Chief Executive Officer, SunFoods LLC - BSc (AgEngr) MBA

Matt joined SunFoods LLC in 2010 as Chief Operating Officer and was appointed CEO in 2011. Matt is responsible for all aspects of the US business, from raw material procurement and plant operations, to domestic sales and marketing. Matt has over 20 years’ experience in the US agriculture and rice industries. Before joining the SunRice Group, Matt was previously employed by Pacific International Rice Mills, an agricultural subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev. He is a Board member of the California Rice Commission and the USA Rice Federation.

Stephen Forde

Chief Executive Officer, Riviana Foods Pty Ltd

Stephen joined Riviana Foods in October 2013 as CEO. He has more than 24 years of strategic experience across sales, marketing and general management. In a 20 year career with Reckitt Benckiser, Stephen held senior roles across the sales and marketing functions before being appointed Global Customer Director, U.K and then General Manager, New Zealand. More recently, Stephen was in the role of General Manager, New Zealand for Campbell Arnott’s. Stephen has an established track record of success in the FMCG industry, with a wealth of experience in the Australia and New Zealand markets and with global retailers, including Tesco and Wal Mart.

Peter McKinney

General Manager, CopRice - BComm (Marketing), GAICD

Peter joined SunRice in January 2017, bringing extensive senior marketing and general management experience from roles with blue-chip consumer companies YUM Brands and George Weston Foods, in both the Quick Serve Restaurant and FMCG industries. Peter also previously held a senior management position at ASX-listed company Pacific Smiles Group.

Alan Preston

Chief Executive Officer, Trukai Industries Limited 

Alan joined Trukai Industries Limited in July 2020 as Chief Executive Officer.  Prior to joining Trukai, Alan was the Chief Executive Officer at Mainland Holding in Papua New Guinea.  He was responsible for reshaping the strategic direction of Mainland Holdings and delivered a turnaround of the business.  Alan started his career at East Mark International, Hong Kong and over the course of more than 30 years, held numerous senior executive roles across the Asia Pacific region and PNG, in both consumer and industrial markets.

Alan has extensive sales, marketing and brand portfolio experience, both at the country level and regionally, having led these functions in up to 12 countries in Asia Pacific.  Alan holds a Bachelor of Business and Marketing Degree from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.  He was a lecturer and doctoral student at the Australian Southern Cross University, specialising in sales, marketing and international markets.

Tom Howard

General Manager, Global Operations and Agribusiness - BAgrEC MBA MAICD

Tom joined SunRice in November 2015 and was appointed to the position of General Manager Global Operations and Agribusiness in 2019. Tom manages the operation and expansion of R&D, sourcing, sustainability, manufacturing and supply chain activities for the SunRice Group. Tom is a highly experienced agribusiness manager with a deep knowledge of the domestic and international grains industry. Tom’s prior experience includes working with European pharmaceutical company, UniPhar, a top 50 Irish company. Prior to joining SunRice, Tom was with Emerald Grain (a subsidiary of the Sumitomo Corporation) where he held the positions of Group General Manager Commercial, and Group General Manager Trading and Marketing. He is a Director of Ricegrowers Singapore and Ricegrowers Vietnam.

Paul T. Parker

General Manager, People and Culture

Paul was appointed as GM of People and Culture in June 2019. With over 20 years of experience working in Human Resources, Paul approaches HR solution with a true understanding of the business need for a good company culture.

Prior to joining SunRice, Paul was the Chief Human Resource Officer for Royal Caribbean. Paul led the design and implementation of a People Strategy focused on organisation-wide career enhancement, critical talent management, building strength from diversity and creating an environment of flexibility and choice.

Paul earned his Masters degree in Business from New York University, and a Bachelor of Science from Ithaca College. Paul also studied at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis Maryland.