Dairy Australia Leadership Team
Our leadership team provides strategic direction and manages the investments, priorities and goals in our strategic and operational plans. It also manages our day-to-day operations.
National
Dr Matthew Shaffer
Chief Executive Officer
Matt grew up on a farm in Western Pennsylvania where his first paying job was milking cows. He went on to attend Penn State and Cambridge Universities before joining Hancock Agricultural Investment Group as Director of International Operations. While working for Hancock, he moved to Australia to open a subsidiary and has been here ever since. Before joining Dairy Australia, Matt was the CEO of DataGene.
Appointed 2025
PhD (IntRel) MPhil (IntRel) BA (IntRel)
National
Firoz Divecha
Chief Financial Officer
Firoz leads the Corporate Services business unit, providing strategic oversight across finance, information technology, legal, project management, risk and strategy. With over 26 years of senior executive experience in Australia, India and the United Arab Emirates, Firoz brings a wealth of expertise across diverse sectors, including not-for-profit, food manufacturing, industrial printing solutions, automotive and auditing. Firoz continues to play a key role in strengthening governance, enhancing financial stewardship and advancing strategic delivery across the organisation.
Appointed 2023
Qualified CPA (Australia) and Qualified Chartered Accountant (India)
National
Imogen McBain
General Manager People & Culture
Imogen is a human resources professional with over 15 years’ experience across diverse industries, including engineering, consulting, media, technology and property development. She leads the People & Culture team and brings specialist experience in employee relations, human resources technology and analytics and has a keen interest in talent management, including organisational development.
Appointed 2018
MCom (HR) BAppSc (Psychology), GAICD
National
Susannah Tymms
General Manager Sustainable Dairy
Susannah leads the Sustainable Dairy team, focusing on national and international initiatives connecting sustainability frameworks, trade policy and regulatory strategy to drive industry-wide transformation. She is an experienced executive leader in agricultural sustainability, policy and regulatory affairs, with over 25 years spanning industry and government. Susannah has an extensive background in R&D investment strategy, evidence-based policy development and government relations and has represented the Australian dairy sector in cross-commodity and international forums.
Commenced at Dairy Australia 2016, appointed General Manager 2025
BA, GDip Sc, MSc