Executive leadership team
Niall Browne
Wayne Shaw
James McWilliam
Kirstie Gardener
Rob Stowell
Alliance Group Ltd – Board
Thomas ‘Tom’ Moran (Chair)
Alliance Group NZ
Niall Browne
Alliance Group NZ
Sean Breen
Alliance Group NZ
Mark Wynne
Alliance Group NZ
Jared Collie
Alliance Group NZAlliance Investment Co-Op – Board
Mark Wynne
Alliance Group NZJared Collie
Alliance Group NZ
Ross Bowmar
Alliance Group NZ
Matt Iremonger
Alliance Group NZ
Niall Browne
Chief Executive
Niall became Chief Executive of Alliance Group in January 2026.
Niall has extensive experience as a Chief Executive, having been appointed as the CEO of Dawn Meats in 2007.
Throughout his career, Niall has focused on the culture of Dawn Meats — developing people, processing, and innovation to facilitate the company’s successful expansion, which includes the recently approved joint venture partnership with Alliance.
Wayne Shaw
Operations Director
Wayne joined Alliance Group in the role of General Manager Safety and Processing in December 2023. He has 32 years’ experience in the red meat processing sector, including 23 years at Silver Fern Farms where he covered a number of senior roles, with his final role being Operations Manager of their Sheep and Venison operation. In that role Wayne was responsible for 12 plants, livestock procurement, cold stores and transportation reporting, as well as a shared responsibility for Group Engineering. Most recently Wayne was Chief Operating Officer, Processing and Special Projects at Harvest Road Group in Western Australia, which covers beef processing, farming/feed lots and oyster farming.
Wayne has a Bachelor of Technology (First Class Honours), biotechnology and bioprocess engineering, Massey University and a Master of Business Administration (Distinction), Massey University.
James McWilliam
Commercial Director
James took up the role of Global Sales Director in January 2024 having previously held the roles of Group Planning & Optimisation Manager, Levin Plant Manager and Global Sales Manager, Specialty Ingredients & Materials for Alliance.
Prior to joining Alliance in 2019 James had spent his entire career in the red meat industry. He started as a Management Graduate at Ovation New Zealand and has led teams across multiple geographies and spent the eight years prior to Alliance in-market in the UK and USA leading global sales functions for Ovation across the world.
Alongside James’ people leadership skills, he also has strong existing relationships with key internal and external customers and stakeholders. He successfully led the Levin Plant to record performance across safety and processing metrics and has a deep passion and end-to-end understanding of the red meat sector.
He has Bachelor of Physical Education and Bachelor of Commerce Degrees from the University of Otago. He has completed post graduate study at The London School of Business and Finance – Managerial Finance and an Executive Leadership programme in Leadership at Stanford University, California.
Jared Collie
Jared was elected in 2015. Along with his wife Prue and their three sons, he operates a 1325-hectare sheep, cattle and dairy farm in Central Southland. Jared is also a director of Ballance Agri-Nutrients, Benmore Downs Limited, and Platinum Dairies Limited.
He serves as Chair of the Jeff Farm Management Board and is facilitator for the Takitimu Discussion Group.
Thomas ‘Tom’ Moran
Chairman
Tom spent over 30 years in the Irish Ministry for Agriculture and Food with the final ten years as Secretary General. Since leaving government, Tom has continued to work in the agriculture and food sectors across a range of organisations and roles.
He is currently Chairman of Kerry Group plc, the Irish-headquartered global taste and nutrition company.
Niall Browne
Niall was appointed Chief Executive of the company in 2007 at the age of just 34 and has since worked with his leadership team to spearhead its development through mergers and acquisitions in key strategic markets.
Throughout his career, Niall has focused on the culture of Dawn Meats — developing people, processing, and innovation to facilitate the company’s successful expansion.
Sean Breen
Sean is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland. He trained and worked with Ernst & Young before joining Dawn Meats in 1983.
Sean has worked with successive CEOs at Dawn Meats to build one of Europe’s leading food processing companies.
Mark Wynne
Mark joined the Board in December 2021 and was elected Chair in April 2024.
He is also Chair of Quayside Holdings, a large Tauranga based endowment fund. He has extensive experience in senior executive roles of large companies, including CEO of Ballance Agri-Nutrients, Regional President (South Asia) for Kimberly-Clark, and various senior roles across Asia, Middle East and New Zealand for Fonterra Brands.
Ross Bowmar
Ross was raised in Southland and now farms with his wife Jess and family at a high-country sheep and beef station in Canterbury’s Rakaia Gorge. He holds a Masters in Agricultural Economics from Michigan State University and spent a decade with Archer Daniels Midland in international agricultural processing. He also serves as a director on EA Networks.
Matt Iremonger
Matt was elected to the board in 2024 as a supplier representative. Farming 40,000 SU sheep and beef on Banks Peninsula and 2,300 dairy cows across 3 dairy units in Canterbury, Matt was a Nuffield Scholar in 2023 and a past winner of the Deloitte Fast 50 Agribusiness.
Matt is passionate about capturing market value efficiently, returning it to farmers, and strengthening the balance sheet.
Kirstie Gardener
Human Resources Director
Kirstie is a highly capable executive leader with experience in senior people and culture roles across a range of industries and sectors. Kirstie has a wealth of experience in competitive commercial environments where she has demonstrated deep functional expertise and executive leadership.
Kirstie understands the red meat industry well, having spent nearly five years with ANZCO Foods. As General Manager People and Safety and a member of the executive leadership team, Kirstie played a key role leading ANZCO through a period of significant business modernisation, transformation, and the transition to an international shareholder.
After leaving ANZCO Kirstie took on the role of General Manager People at Lyttelton Port Company, culminating in her appointment as Chief Executive in 2022. Kirstie’s key achievements at Lyttelton Port were the delivery of increased profitability, improved union relationships and health and safety performance, and the oversight of the ongoing build of LPC’s future infrastructure programme.
Kirstie’s most recent role was as General Manager Industrial Relations at Health New Zealand, where she led a national team of industrial relations advocates and oversaw the National Collective Employment Agreement bargaining with eight national union partners representing approximately 80,000 staff.
