THERE is a new face in the senior management team at Primaries of WA following some recent changes in the company.
These changes include Primaries former managing director Matt Pedersen taking on a regional manager's role with Ruralco, the parent company of Primaries and Andrew Lindsay being appointed the new Primaries general manager.
After 18 years with Primaries and the last four as managing director, Mr Pedersen started in a newly created role at Ruralco as the company's southern regional manager for WA, South Australia and Victoria at the start of the year.
In the new role Mr Pedersen is responsible for the reporting of all Ruralco businesses in the bottom half of Australia, including Primaries.
Mr Pedersen said part of the structural changes were the result of the growth not only of Primaries but the whole Ruralco group.
"Ruralco has grown significantly throughout Australia in recent years and this includes WA where there has been the addition of the Farm Shop, FarmWorks and the CRT member network to the Ruralco business," Mr Pedersen said.
"Primaries is now part of a much wider network and our aim has always been to offer an extensive range of services unique to each State and regional location."
The new job, however, will not mean Mr Pedersen will lose contact with Primaries as he will remain as a Primaries director, along with long-standing board members Des Sheedy and Simon Joel and will be based at the Primaries' head office at Bibra Lake
During his time with Primaries, Mr Pedersen said it had been exciting to see the business develop from a small wool agent to a company that could now offer the full range of agribusiness services to its clients while maintaining the company's core ethos of offering personalised, professional service.
"Primaries' aim and its success has always been based on providing the most cost effective, comprehensive, personalised service while aiming to maximise client returns at all times through dedicated specialist personnel," he said.
"The company's growth over the years is clearly a result of this continued formula."
Mr Pedersen said Mr Lindsay was hand picked for the job after the company went through an extensive advertising period and they were humbled by the amount and quality of applications they received for the position.
"Mr Lindsay was clearly a person we wanted due to his knowledge of the rural industry, personality and communication skills, which were all very much in line with the culture of the Primaries business," Mr Pedersen said.
"He was well-known to us from his previous role within the wool industry and it is especially pleasing to us that we have brought a fresh, new face to the agency business in WA."
Mr Lindsay, who grew up on a Merino stud and wheat property at Peak Hill in central New South Wales, which his family still operates, started in the job in January.
Before joining Primaries, Mr Lindsay had worked at the Australian Wool Testing Authority (AWTA) for 18 years.
He was based with AWTA in Sydney for 12 years before moving to WA six years ago to take on the role of regional manager with AWTA.
Mr Lindsay said he saw the opportunity to be able to work at Primaries as a chance to get back to grass-roots agriculture due to the diverse nature of the Primaries business.
"I am very excited to be working for the company," he said.
"I have seen it grow significantly over the years in my previous role and I am looking forward to being involved in its continued expansion.
"Not only is it a growing business but it also has a great team of people involved in it.
"I really want to continue the Primaries' culture of giving everything a go through personalised service and innovation and continuing the strong focus on our customers and customer service to make sure they don't just feel like they are a number."
Mr Lindsay said Primaries now had a large footprint throughout WA and it was great to be part of this dynamic, growing business.
"An example of this is the recent opening of Primaries' first merchandise store at Mt Barker," Mr Lindsay said.
"It has a good strategic location, a great team behind the business and hopefully it can grow and provide a better service to the Mt Barker area."
While Mr Lindsay knew the wool side of the Primaries' business well from his previous role at AWTA he said his first two months in the role had been a steep learning curve as he got to know the other sides of the business.
"These first couple of months the focus has been really about getting out into the regional areas and meeting the Primaries staff and clients and listening to them," he said
