ANTHONY Wilkes has been appointed as chief executive officer of the Yeeda Pastoral Company and will start in his role on Monday, February 3.
He is a highly-regarded corporate leader with more than 20 years' experience in the agribusiness and food-beverage industries.
Mr Wilkes will take charge of the next phase of Yeeda's growth strategy to extend the company's position as a highest-standard and reliable leader in the cattle industry and a producer of premium-quality protein.
Yeeda co-founder and chairman Mervyn Key said Mr Wilkes was well placed to build on the foundations established by the company's inaugural chief executive officer, Jack Burton.
"Anthony is a highly-accomplished and proven leader in agribusiness who has gained significant experience across the full value chain, from growing and manufacturing to domestic and international sales," Mr Key said.
"Most importantly, Anthony has a strong track record of developing and leading teams of people to excel.
"Anthony will bring a great mix of professionalism, leadership, inspiration, operational experience and passion to Yeeda."
Mr Key said Mr Wilkes had an exceptional business vision and was a strong and collaborative leader of geographically and culturally diverse teams.
"I am confident that in Anthony we have a leader who can deliver our vision of being the leading cattle business and protein producer in north-western Australia," he said.
Mr Wilkes grew up on a mixed crop, sheep and cattle farm in WA's South West.
Graduating from Curtin University in 1996 with a Bachelor of Business (Agriculture) and as dux of his year group, Mr Wilkes joined Heytesbury Pastoral Company to launch a career in agribusiness and food- beverage that has also included senior executive roles with premium wine companies Ferngrove and Howard Park & MadFish Wines.
Mr Wilkes is a past winner of the WA Business News 40 under 40 awards and said he was excited to be joining the Yeeda team.
"Yeeda operates its cattle and protein business in the Kimberley, one of the cleanest environments in the world, and is therefore ideally placed to service customer demands from fast-growing neighbouring markets," Mr Wilkes said.
"Yeeda's processing facility is uniquely situated in the middle of a large and high-quality cattle producing area, providing a wonderful opportunity to work collaboratively with cattle producers to grow the company's business in a socially responsible manner.
"I am joining a business with great market recognition and look forward to taking Yeeda to the next level."