Can you share your journey to becoming General Counsel at Tip Top?
I was previously in-house at Fonterra and, as part of working with the Fonterra Brands business, was involved in the sale of Tip Top from Fonterra to Froneri in 2019. When Tip Top became a stand alone business, I was approached to establish and lead the legal function for Froneri in New Zealand and Australia, being Tip Top Ice Cream in New Zealand and Peters Ice Cream in Australia (an ice cream business about twice the size of Tip Top). I’ve always loved working in-house and was really excited about the opportunity to set up a legal function.
I started the role in early 2020 – just before Covid hit – which wasn’t ideal for a trans-Tasman role. However, the Australian business is based in Melbourne, where they had a really long and protracted lockdown so it actually didn’t matter that I was in NZ. I was dialling into meetings and part of the team in exactly the same way everyone else was. I started travelling back and forward more regularly between Australia and NZ as soon as I could (nervously Covid testing before I could get on planes) - that all seems like a distant past!
How would you describe the scope of your role, and what are some of the most rewarding aspects?
My role is very broad. My official title is General Counsel (Australia & New Zealand), and I’m also Head of HR and Health & Safety for Tip Top. I sit on the Leadership Team of both Tip Top (NZ) and Peters Ice Cream (Aus) and cover all things legal across both businesses. While both businesses have the same ultimate owner and work together on many initiatives, they are run as two separate businesses.
Both Tip Top and Peters make and sell ice cream so the legal team is involved in everything from negotiating key customer or supply contracts to reviewing new products and marketing campaigns. My legal “team” is very small - just me and one other (part-time), across both Australia and NZ.
The most rewarding aspect of my legal role is the dual Australia/NZ focus, I love being part of the team in each country. While I’ve implemented and aligned processes across both countries (precedents, policies, training, ways of working), there are real nuances to each jurisdiction and there is never a dull moment. Often Aus/NZ roles are Australia based so I feel privileged to do such a great role from NZ (albeit with a lot of travel across the Tasman!). Of course, I have to mention the ice cream…there aren’t many legal roles where ice cream tasting is a regular part of the job!
What are the challenges you are facing that keep you awake at night and how are you planning on tackling them?
The challenges our legal team faces will be the same as many other businesses - how do we do more yet keep costs to a minimum with such a small team? In Australia, in particular, we’ve had a number of issues in the past couple of years where I’ve had to rely heavily on external lawyers and I’m always conscious of costs. I’ve been lucky to get an additional part-time lawyer on board this year – life changing!
On more general challenges, things I’m thinking about include: regulatory compliance in an environment (FMCG/grocery) that regulators on both sides of the Tasman are focused on; the escalating costs of everything which constantly creates business challenges; retaining/engaging talent, and ESG … I don’t have much that keeps me awake but, with such a large remit across both countries, I do occasionally worry about what may be missed from a legal perspective! In general, sitting on the leadership team of each country means I know about most things going on across each business, so I can usually take a proactive/risk-based approach to this. I’ve also found that training in high-risk areas (competition law!) has been worthwhile as it means the legal team are not the only ones identifying potential issues. Unfortunately, in Australia, the ACCC launched proceedings against Peters fairly soon after I started in the business. While that was a real challenge to manage, it now means the whole Australian team are as focused as I am on potential legal issues. In Australia, I also rely heavily on external lawyers filtering things through to me (key legislative or regulatory changes, for example).
In what ways does your work contribute to the business and are there any initiatives or projects you're particularly proud of?
I love that the General Counsel has a seat at the executive table in both countries. Although meetings can take up a lot of time, it means that the GC role is very commercial and seen as a true contributor and decision-maker for both businesses. Additionally, I’m immensely proud of the amount of legal work we get through in-house with such a small team.
What is the one piece of technology - either current or yet to be created - that would make your day job easier?
A clone of myself would be very useful some days…