Dairy NSW Board of Directors

Donna owns and operates a 340 cow, dairy farm with her husband at Toothdale in the Bega Valley. Donna commenced to dairy in 2006 on her husband’s family dairy farm in Cobargo. In 2007, Donna took up a lease farm in Bemboka, moving to another lease farm in 2012 and finally purchasing the Toothdale farm in 2013. For the next 7 years Donna and her husband operated 2 dairy businesses which were consolidated in 2020.

Donna has a Bachelor of Arts / Bachelor of Laws degree and an Advanced Diploma of Government (Workplace Inspection) and spent 15 years working for Safework NSW as a District Coordinator and finally an Acting Assistant State Inspector, where she successfully developed and implemented a Regional Harm Prevention Program titled Dairy Safe, before returning to the farm full time in 2018. Donna brings with her the skills and ability to review and audit systems relating to risk management, internal compliance and control, codes of conduct, legal, regulatory, and corporate governance compliance.

Carissa Wolfe co-owns and manages a 110-cow dryland pasture dairy business that was established in 2013 on the Mid-north coast. Over this time, she has experienced the wide spread of economic and environmental impacts that the NSW dairy regions have faced, together with the challenges of being a first-generation farmer.

Carissa's regional dairy industry involvement includes sitting on the Mid Coast Dairy Advancement Group's Management Committee since 2015 and being active in the Mid Coast Women in Dairy group. Through her consultancy role, Carissa has brought a corporate background in management accounting, internal audit, and systems experience to support businesses across a wide variety of dairy management systems and dairy related organisations for more than 20 years.

Phil Ryan owns and manages Hillgrove Dairy, a mostly dryland farm in the Bega Valley. His family have had beef cattle all his life and bought the dairy in 2007. Phil has managed the farm since 2010 after a career in IT project management and running a pub. Hillgrove is now milking about 250 cows, with a mix of registered Holstein and Jersey cattle. The challenges of dairying, especially on dryland in Bega, have inspired Phil to be highly involved in seeking to improve the dairy industry.

This is his second term on the Dairy NSW Board. Phil represents the NSW Farmers' Association Dairy Committee as well as representing NSW on the Australian Dairy Farmers National Council. He also serves as Deputy Chair of the NSW Government Dairy Action Plan Implementation Panel. Phil is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Michael Cole, a fifth-generation dairy farmer and former corporate executive, brings a unique blend of practical farming expertise and strategic business insight to his role as Farmer Director of Dairy NSW. Managing Coleville Dairies in Jamberoo, where 200 cows are milked on a sustainable 100-hectare operation, Michael combines his deep agricultural roots with a distinguished career in finance, including leadership roles at Bankers Trust Australia and ASX-listed companies.

Passionate about environmental stewardship, he focuses on helping NSW dairy farmers establish and enhance their farm carbon footprints, driving sustainable growth and resilience across the industry.

Graeme joined the Dairy NSW Board in October 2020. Graeme is presently the CEO of Invetus Pty Ltd, a contract veterinary research business based in Armidale, NSW. Prior to this role he was accountable for finance, HR, compliance, and risk management for Invetus.

Graeme brings a wealth of agribusiness experience to the board following a 30-year career in dairy, cotton production, processing and marketing, agricultural finance and animal health research. Graeme worked in the dairy industry for dairy farmers during the 1990s and was actively involved in the equivalent of Dairy Business Monitor and Our Farm, Our Plan programs at that time.

Trevor completed a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (Sydney University) and then worked as an Agricultural Consultant for 10 years. In 1997, he was employed by Dairy Farmers as a Field Officer responsible for Central West and Camden areas. Trevor was involved in the development and implementation of benchmarking, budgeting, and business planning programs in NSW.

He was also given the role of Project Officer with responsibilities for the development of a website for farm results and for maintaining milk production forecasts. He continued with these roles under National Foods (& Lion) until he was moved into a finance role in 2014 with responsibility for improving the budgeting and reporting of milk cost. Under the new ownership of Bega, Trevor moved back into a Farm Services role - responsible for all of NSW excluding Bega and Riverina regions. In addition to over 35 years’ experience in Agriculture, Trevor is involved in an award-winning accommodation business and has actively participated in the thriving tourism industry in the Orange region.

After completing a Bachelor of Agricultural Science at the University of Sydney in 2006, Justin returned home to the family dairy farm on the South Coast of NSW to share farm with his parents. In 2016, he assumed responsibility for running the business, which has since expanded to milk 400 cows at Jaspers Brush. His focus has been on developing efficient pasture-based systems, investing in infrastructure, and improving herd performance to drive sustainable growth.

Justin has also been active in industry development and education, regularly hosting students, industry groups, and visitors to the farm to showcase innovation in pasture management and sustainable dairy production. In 2024, he completed the Australian Institute of Company Directors Observership Program, further strengthening his governance and leadership skills.

He brings to the Dairy NSW Board a combination of hands-on farming experience, business management expertise, and a strong commitment to supporting the future of the dairy industry.

Stephen Collins is the grandson of a dairy farmer and orchardist from Tasmania, but grew up in cities across Australia, including Hobart, Darwin, Sydney, and Canberra. He has lived in the Bega Valley with his family since January 2021, and runs Rock Lily - a 100-acre forested property and bed and breakfast in Brogo, as well as working on a large dairy farm at Angledale. He has interests in conservation, regenerative farming, and agricultural sector innovation with a focus on ensuring farming can be a sustainable career and lifestyle for smallholders and their families.

Prior to moving to Brogo, Stephen owned and ran a Canberra-based organisational design and innovation studio for 16 years, consulting mostly to federal government agencies, as well as banking, telco, IT, state government, and 3rd sector clients in Australia and overseas. 

He brings expertise in policy and program development, design and implementation of services with a focus on public and client needs, regulation and compliance, and human-centred design.