Management Profiles

Paul Serra

Chief Executive Officer - BEng (Hons)

Paul commenced his role as CEO of the SunRice Group in August 2023. Paul is an accomplished leader with extensive global experience in the growth and transformation of complex and diverse organisations. He joins SunRice from the role of Managing Director North America (USA and Canada), Olam Food Ingredients (“ofi”), New York. Prior to joining ofi, Paul held a number of senior executive roles at the Campbells Soup Company, and was previously in operational roles at Arnotts Biscuits ANZ. Paul has demonstrable experience in delivering financial outcomes in the agribusiness, food ingredients and FMCG sectors as well as in the areas of supply chain management, people leadership, business transformations, health and safety and operations. Paul holds an honours degree in engineering from The University of Queensland.

Dimitri Courtelis

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

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).

Alan Preston

Chief Executive Officer, Trukai Industries Limited - BBus (Marketing)

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.

Belinda Tumbers

Chief Executive Officer, Global Rice

Belinda joined SunRice in July 2021 to lead the newly created Global Rice function. As the CEO of Global Rice, Belinda is responsible for developing, growing, sourcing, manufacturing, supply and selling the world’s best, sustainably-sourced rice products to satisfy expanding global demand.

Belinda brings significant leadership capability to SunRice, with over 20 years’ experience in the commercial and FMCG sectors. She was previously Managing Director of AMEA Snacks for the Kellogg Company, where she led the strategic development and end-to-end operations of the Kellogg’s Snacking business across Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Africa and the Middle East. Prior to this, Belinda was the Managing Director of Kellogg’s business in ANZ. In 2017 Belinda was named Telstra NSW Business Woman of the Year and also received the Corporate and Private Award.

Ganesh Kashyap

General Manager, CopRice - BEng (Hons), MBA

Ganesh joined SunRice in August 2021 as General Manager, CopRice. In this role he carries end-to-end responsibility for leading the business and preparing it for its next stage of growth.

Ganesh joined us after a 10-year successful global career with Mondelez International. Most recently, he was Managing Director of Mondelez Japan, where he led business turnaround within highly competitive categories in the world’s third largest snacks market. Previously he was the GM of Mondelez’s eCommerce business unit in Asia Pacific, where he led rapid business growth in Australia, China, India and key Southeast Asian markets. The first decade of his career was established in strategy consulting, including time with Bain & Company’s CPG and Retail practice. Ganesh holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering and an MBA from leading Australian universities.

Kate Cooper

General Counsel & Company Secretary - BA (Communications) LLB, GAICD

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, corporate affairs and sustainability 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.

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.

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.

Vesna Garnett

Chief People Officer - BCom (Human Resources/Accounting)

Vesna was appointed Chief People Officer for the SunRice Group in January 2024. Prior to joining she held various C-Suite and Senior HR leadership positions across both local and globally listed companies, including The Iconic, Bupa, Cisco, General Mills, Network Ten and Angus & Coote. Vesna has extensive experience working in complex environments across all HR business partnering and centres of excellence. She has led large HR teams across ANZ and the Asia Pacific, in addition to being part of global teams. Vesna holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree, majoring in Human Resources and Accounting.