Ron Fox
Ron’s working career began in the early 1960’s with a short stay in the insurance industry before taking control of the family bridal gown business, “Jean Fox” started by his mother in 1932.
During his long directorship in the bridal industry he became well known across Australia for his marketing and business acumen, having been involved with all facets of this very competitive industry of manufacturing, importing, exporting, franchising and of course retailing.
Ron has also been able to pursue his hobbies of vintage cars, photography and his collection, yes “of hundreds of foxes” of all shapes and sizes.
Ron has been an active member of the Rotary Club of Parramatta for almost forty years, and the Anglican Parish of St. Barnabas at Westmead since 1952.
Ron has almost completed the succession of the Jean Fox business to the next generation. Being a country boy from Albury NSW he is once again enjoying his involvement, with rural businesses and their communities.
Roy Powell
Roy began researching regional economies in 1973 while at the University of New England. For the next 20 years at UNE, Roy was a key player in establishing UNE’s reputation in the analysis of regional economies and regional development. Roy also served as Dean of the Faculty of Economic Studies.
From that research base, Roy took on the role of interpreting the research and trends in regional development into practice as Chair of the local Regional Development Board, within the Armidale Development Corporation and in advisory work. During this period, many analytical approaches were tried and developed for practical application in preparing economic development strategies and planning. Many tools such as location quotients, shift-share analysis, coefficients of specialisation and input-output methods were made relevant and operational.
From 1996, Roy and other partners established the Centre for Agricultural and Regional Economics (CARE) as an agency specialised in issues of natural resource management and policy and regional economic development and policy. CARE provides advice to regional organisations and all levels of government on regional economy issues, development and policy. The extensive databases, analytic capacity, knowledge and experience held by CARE are used to provide insights into regional development issues and opportunities.
For more than a decade, Roy has been urging a greater focus on supporting the growth of existing local businesses as the key element in economic development strategies. But the capacity and personnel to support business growth has been limited. Roy is delighted to be part of the economic gardener’s team that can offer a full range of services to support well-structured regional development strategies and programs.
Peter Sergeant
Peter started his first business in 1967. An agricultural machinery sales and service business in Central NSW, he was twenty-four and just married. As he says it was fun struggling to survive in those early years. After fourteen years, the drought of the early 1980s forced him to close the business, which had become one of the biggest in Australia.
Peter is an excellent motivational speaker and has delivered countless seminars and workshops on business and community development across Australia.
He has spent many years working with people encouraging them through business development programs; he is a bastion for change through Economic Gardening and forward thinking.
Peter has researched and tested many methodologies relating to businesses and communities, their related structures, emerging technologies and their role in developing regional communities
Peter says “when we first saw the Economic Gardening concept, we saw something that paralleled his own thinking and the best innovation for community development to come along in decades; it was a concept whose time had come”.
David Thompson
David holds degrees in rural science and economics and has used that knowledge in a range of applied analyses relevant to business. David has worked in CARE for more than a decade and has developed its reputation in analysing and advising in natural resource management and policy.
His work has included many types of biometric farm models that analyse the performance of various types of natural-resource based industries. These include forestry and farming industries and a range of natural resource conservation and management systems. He has extensive knowledge of these industries, the risks they face and the regulations under which they operate.
David also manages the NE-NW Forestry Investment Group whish has the objective of developing all facets of the forestry industry in this region. That involves on-going collaboration with farm and forestry operators, the timber processing industry, local councils and Government agencies.
