WESTERN Dairy's communications officer for the past year, Jenelle Bowles, has been appointed by Dairy Australia as its new Western Australian regional manager and executive officer.
Ms Bowles on Monday replaced Esther Jones who had been Western Dairy's executive officer for more than 20 years.
A communications and corporate affairs specialist, Ms Bowles began her career as a journalist with WA Business News and ABC Radio before moving into communications roles with South Coast NRM, South32 Worsley Alumina and most recently with the South West Catchments Council.
Western Dairy chairman and Jindong dairy farmer Peter Evans said Ms Bowles was chosen from a strong field of candidates and would support the Western Dairy team and WA's 140 dairy farm businesses through a challenging period of industry reform ahead.
"Jenelle has worked closely with the Western Dairy team and board of directors over the past year to implement our annual operating plan and enhance strategic communications and engagement," Mr Evans said.
"She has also built a good rapport with WA dairy farmers, service providers and industry stakeholders and values these relationships in growing the industry's profitability and sustainability.
"We are excited to welcome Jenelle and trust that Western Dairy will continue to grow its suite of services, explore new business opportunities and work with farmers, government and community partners to protect our environment."
Ms Jones will continue to support the industry as a Western Dairy project officer until June.
As previously reported in Farm Weekly, she announced at the Western Dairy annual meeting in November she intended resigning to devote more time to her own consultancy business which teaches presentation skills as part of its operation.
Ms Jones will be the program producer for this year's Australian Dairy Conference and LambEx and BeefEx conferences.
She has been widely acknowledged as a "powerhouse" at Western Dairy.
Former Western Dairy chairman Vic Rodwell once described her as the "E factor" after she convinced him to start a dairy-sponsored swimming race with an air horn while hanging onto the lead of a 600 kilogram dairy cow.